Hi :) Has your husband had an Esophageal Ultrasound to determine if there is lymph node involvement or early esophageal cancer present ? That would be the first step. How many bopsies were taken ? Also have you had a second opinion on the biopsies ?
With cutting of the tissue you are probably talking about EMR ( endoscopic mucosal resection ) Most folks with high grade usually have EMR plus Barrx. Doing both together has MUCH better results. The Mayo does both together . The Barrx endoscope has a balloon lined with heat coils . When the balloon is lined up next to the diseased tissue, the doctor inflates the balloon and activates the heat coils to burn away any remaining bad cells after the tissue is cut away with EMR.
Some folks with HG dysplasia prefer to have have cyro.
Freezing liquid nitrogen is sprayed onto the esophageal mucosa, freezing off the BE and HGD. You don't usually need the cutting ( EMR) with this .
If you go to the crymed site you can find a list of doctors and hospitals who do this . Both Barrx and Cryo have shown good results and both list doctors and Hospitals on their sites . These procedures are more than a year old for sure .
There are people on the Johns Hopkins Online Barrett's esophagus Discussion Board ( check it out , i don't think it's allowed to post web links, but type that into your search engine ) who have had both procedures and are doing very well and Barretts free 3-4 years post procedures .
Be certain, whatever your husband chooses that he is being treated by physicians with extensive experience in treating and diagnosing HGD. .That includes and is VERY important an expert Pathologist to make an accurate diagnosis of all of his biopsies. If you go to the board i told you about and look through the posts you will see quite a few people who had these procedires done for HGD and are doing great .
Fundoplication may not be a good idea because it could interfere with future biopsy monitering , Barretts may get trapped inside the wrap and missed . It would be harder to biopsy .
Take Care and Best wishes :)
Edit: Tricia, You may post helpful sites per the rules. Many people do this.
Links to helpful web sites (commercial or otherwise) are allowed when they are posted by someone without any "vested interest" AND whose purpose is NOT to solicit, advertise, promote, fundraise, etc.
Thank you
Kitt
Post Edited By Moderator (stkitt) : 1/21/2009 9:38:14 PM (GMT-7)