• Kung-Hung Lin, Jia-Bin Liao, Yan-Hua Chen, Huay-Min Wang, Wei-Chih Sun, Sung-Shuo Kao, Tzung-Jiun Tsai, Feng-Woei Tsay, Wei-Lun Tsai, Chao-Hsien Lee, Wen-Chi Chen, and Hsien-Chung Yu.
• Health Management Center, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
• J Formos Med Assoc. 2024 Feb 1; 123 (2): 238247238-247.

BackgroundThe percentage of and factors associated with the regression of Barrett's esophagus (BE) or its characteristic intestinal metaplasia (IM) remain unclear, and conflicting results have been reported because of diverse regression and sampling error definitions. Thus, we investigated the rates of IM regression, sampling error, and associated factors.MethodsForty-two patients with proven short-segment BE with IM who underwent two follow-up endoscopies with biopsies of Barrett's mucosa were retrospectively analyzed. Additional Alcian blue and MUC2 staining were done on the biopsy specimens without IM in hematoxylin-eosin staining. Only patients with negative hematoxylin-eosin, Alcian blue, and MUC2 staining for IM in both follow-up endoscopies were considered to have true regression. When all three stains were negative for IM in the first, but positive in the second follow-up endoscopy, we considered IM persisting and declared sampling error.ResultsAmong the 18 patients without IM at the first follow-up endoscopy, only five (11.9%) were judged to have true regression. Prolonged proton-pump inhibitor use was significantly associated with regression. Limited experience of the endoscopist, and insufficient biopsy number were significantly related to sampling error. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed the best cut-off value of the biopsy number/maximal-length (cm) ratio to predict sampling error was 2.25.ConclusionIn our patients with short-segment BE, 11.9% experienced regression of IM. Prolonged proton-pump inhibitors treatment was associated with regression. An insufficient biopsy number was related to a missed IM, which may be eliminated by maintaining biopsy number/maximal-length (cm) ratio ≥2.25.Copyright © 2023 Formosan Medical Association. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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