Vidhi Patel, MD: The Risk of Dysplasia, Esophageal Adenocarcinoma for Barrett's Esophagus Patients

A group of doctors from the Cleveland Clinic have begun to focus on better understanding the risk of developing complications for patients with Barrett’s esophagus undergoing organ transplantation on a larger scale.

Recently, there have been several smaller studies showing a high risk of progression to high grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients with Barrett’s esophagus who underwent solid organ transplantation.

However, these studies generally had a lack of a control population.

In new data presented during the 2023 Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in Chicago, a team led by Vidhi Patel, MD, Cleveland Clinic explored the rates of neoplastic progression in this patient population using a retrospective case-control study model.

The study included 118 cases with solid organ transplantation and 756 control patients with no history of solid organ transplantation or immunosuppressant use.

The results show patients with Barrett’s esophagus with immunosuppressant medication use were twice more likely to progress to high grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma.

In an interview with HCPLive® during the conference, Patel spoke about the need for more research to better understand the risk of Barrett’s esophagus and a look at understanding which specific organs result in a greater chance of developing either high grade dysplasia and esophageal adenocarcinoma.