Endoscopic Bile Reflux Strongly Associated with Barrett's Esophagus, finds study

The key findings of the study were:

• The study involved 4,021 patients, of whom 922 (23%) had Barrett's esophagus, and 1,000 (25%) showed endoscopic findings of bile reflux.

• Multivariate analysis revealed endoscopic evidence of bile reflux as the strongest independent factor associated with the presence of Barrett's esophagus (odds ratio [OR] 5.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] 4.71–6.76).

• The analysis also found that hiatal hernia (OR 3.30, 95% CI 2.70–4.04) and male gender (OR 1.54, 95% CI 1.24–1.91) were significantly associated with the presence of Barrett's esophagus.

The study's findings suggest that endoscopic evidence of bile reflux may serve as a strong predictor for Barrett's esophagus. This could help identify patients at future risk of developing the condition and who might benefit from increased endoscopic surveillance.

The research provides compelling evidence that endoscopic bile reflux is an independent factor associated with Barrett's esophagus. This finding emphasizes the importance of monitoring bile reflux during endoscopy to identify patients who may be at increased risk of Barrett's esophagus.

Reference:

Iwaya, Y., Goda, K., Kako, S., Hattori, H., Miyazawa, T., Hara, D., Hashigami, K., Hirayama, A., Okamura, T., Nagaya, T., & Umemura, T. (2024). Association between endoscopic evidence of bile reflux and Barrett’s esophagus: A large-scale case-control study. Digestive and Liver Disease: Official Journal of the Italian Society of Gastroenterology and the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver, 56(4), 622–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dld.2023.11.042