Ablative therapies for Barrett's esophagus

Most treatment of Barrett's esophagus (BE) has focused on normalization of the acidic esophageal environment in which the change from squamous to columnar epithelium takes place. In conjunction with creating a normal acid environment, several other therapies are under investigation. Although the data do not yet support the use of several reversal or ablative techniques in the general BE population, certain subgroups of BE patients may benefit from these techniques. Such therapies and the appropriate patients for these methods are reviewed.