Posted 12/28/2012 9:05 AM (GMT 0)
Barretts is potentially a precancerous condition. Potentially. In reality the biggest cause of death amongst people with Barretts, when you look at deaths from all causes, is heart disease!
If you do have it, and that's an IF, then usually you just have it monitored. The jury is still out on what makes it transform to cancer - and it is certainly not amongst the common cancers. Lots of people have Barretts and don't even know because they have no symptoms. If you screen a group of men over the age of 60, some of them will have it, but they won't have any symptoms of reflux or heartburn. It's still not fully understood so don't scare yourself unnecessarily.
Obviously there are people out there with Barretts that has started to transform but if caught early it is treatable with ablation. So being scoped is a good thing, but remember they are not looking just for Barretts and it often just rules things out and shows very little at all!
MMM