OBJECTIVE

Barrett's oesophagus (BO) endoscopic surveillance is performed to varying quality, dedicated services may offer improved outcomes. This study compares a dedicated BO service to standard care, specifically dysplasia detection rate (DDR), guideline adherence and use of advanced imaging modalities in a non-tertiary setting.

DESIGN/METHOD: 5-year retrospective comparative cohort study comparing a dedicated BO endoscopy service with surveillance performed on non-dedicated slots at a non-tertiary centre in the UK. All adult patients undergoing BO surveillance between 1 March 2016 and 1 March 2021 were reviewed and those who underwent endoscopy on a dedicated BO service run by endoscopists with training in BO was compared with patients receiving their BO surveillance on any other endoscopy list. Endoscopy reports, histology results and clinic letters were reviewed for DDR and British society of gastroenterology guideline adherence.

RESULTS

921 BO procedures were included (678 patients). 574 (62%) endoscopies were on a dedicated BO list vs 348 (38%) on non-dedicated.DDR was significantly higher in the dedicated cohort 6.3% (36/568) vs 2.7% (9/337) (p=0.014). Significance was sustained when cases with indefinite for dysplasia were excluded: 4.9% 27/533 vs 0.9% 3/329 (p=0.002). Guideline adherence was significantly better on the dedicated endoscopy lists.Factors associated with dysplasia detection in regression analysis included visible lesion documentation (p=0.036), use of targeted biopsies (p=<0.001), number of biopsies obtained (p≤0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

A dedicated Barrett's service showed higher DDR and guideline adherence than standard care and may be beneficial pending randomised trial data.