Chronic acid reflux disease or heartburn affects nearly 20 million Americans every year.
Its not just an uncomfortable feeling, there are long-term risks.
Medical editor Marilyn Brooks takes a look at a new treatment option.
Untreated acid reflux or GERD can lead to the condition called Barret's esophagus and that can lead to cancer. Recently the FDA approved an old procedure called photo-dynamic therapy or PDT as a new treatment option.
For Rob Kerckel gastric reflux was just a nuisance. But when the pain finally made him get it checked - he got a shock.
Rob Kerckel, Recovering PDT patient: "If you are a reflux sufferer, I just want to let you know that reflux can hurt you and that you can develop a dangerous condition from it."
Barrett's esophagus, a direct result of acid reflux, can be low, moderate or high grade.
Dr. Herbert Wolfsen, Gastroenterologist: "The corrosive stomach acid causes the normal lining of the esophagus to be replaced by cells similar to stomach cells."
Those cells can become high grade dysplasia or precancerous. Often the esophagus is removed because studies show 59% of patients progress to cancer within 5-years. Now there is another option. Remove just the pre-cancerous or dysplastic tissue with a non-thermal red light and a drug called photofrin. Its called photodynamic therapy or PDT.
So now we're going to place a light dIffuser fiber through the endoscope. After the light activates the drug the cancerous cells will begin to die and slough off.
Now the concern of most surgeons is...can this photodynamic therapy work just as well on pre-cancerous cells>
Dr. Robert Keenan is one of those surgeons. He uses PDT to kill esophageal and lung cancers but worries it may not be enough for high-grade dysplasias that may or may not progress to cancer.
Dr. Robert Keenan, Thoracic Surgery Chief: "There are patients who may already have a cancer even if they haven't been diagnosed with it on biopsy and so potentially you're under-treating."
PDT also leaves scars that could hide cancer. For Keenan there is a better way to use PDT.
Treat these patients with Barrets before they've progressed to the high grade stage.
Its an idea for the future. Meanwhile, 90 patients with high grade dysplasia were treated with PDT as part of a study. According to Dr. Wolfsen, all but 4 had complete success - Rob Kerckel is one of the lucky ones.
