Is chemotherapy associated with development of Barrett's esophagus?

Columnar-lined or Barrett's esophagus is a premalignant condition. It is almost unvariably due to chronic gastroesophageal reflux. Since there are some reports that Barrett's esophagus can be induced by chemotherapy, we investigated 20 male patients, treated with chemotherapy for testicular cancer, and 18 female patients, treated with high-dose chemotherapy for breast cancer. Only one patient in the testicular cancer group had Barrett's esophagus of the circumferential type, in addition to typical reflux esophagitis and a hiatal hernia four years after chemotherapy. In the breast cancer group one patient had an indeterminate junction. Our results do not support the hypothesis that chemotherapy poses a substantially increased risk for the development of Barrett's esophagus.