Active clinical trials for "Barrett Esophagus"

Endomicroscopy (EM) can improve the diagnosis Barrett's esophagus (BE) and some early esophageal cancers (Intra Epithelial Neoplasia (IEN)). EM provides optical biopsies comparable to standard histology. Specifically, EM allows targeted biopsy rather than random mucosal biopsy during routine endoscopic surveillance of BE or evaluation EIN, which will improve the diagnostic yield of mucosal samples for BE IEN. Furthermore, when combined with high resolution endoscopy, EM may improve the overall in vivo detection of IEN in lesions as well as flat mucosa. EM will provide accurate place and size of IEN which will impact the physician's decision to biopsy or perform endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). This could potentially minimize the number of unnecessary biopsies and as well as enable the physician to perform EMR at the time of the initial examination, rather than delaying endoscopic treatment after the pathology is available. This study is important because it will validate single center studies supporting the routine use of EM for screening and surveillance of BE.

Primary Aim: In patients with endoscopically suspected BE, compared to standard endoscopy, novel techniques (NBI and AFI) with target biopsies will Detect more patients with intestinal metaplasia Detect more areas of high grade dysplasia Require fewer biopsies and a shorter time for procedure completion Secondary Aim: Compare the yield of high-grade dysplasia(HGD)using NBI/AFI versus standard endoscopy with biopsy. Compare the number of biopsies and procedure times for NBI/AFI versus standard endoscopy with biopsy. Compare the inter-observer variability in classifying different mucosal and vascular patterns observed by NBI/AFI using kappa statistics.

The overall objective of this study is to obtain data to evaluate whether high-resolution imaging of barrett's esophagus in vivo can assist clinicians in detecting dysplastic (precancerous) areas. This is a pilot study of an novel technology, a miniaturized microscope device which can be used during upper endoscopy to image the gastrointestinal epithelium. This is an exploratory, not a comparative, study designed to evaluate the feasibility of using this instrument in Barrett's esophagus.

The overall objective of this pilot study is to determine whether multispectral imaging increases the diagnostic accuracy of the current standard of high-definition white-light endoscopy for the detection of Barrett's-associated neoplasia (high grade dysplasia or cancer). The investigators goal is to develop a multispectral endoscopic platform that can be used to survey a large surface area and, potentially, serve as a 'red flag' for microendoscopic imaging of small areas. The goal of this pilot study is to preliminarily determine the accuracy of these modalities during the endoscopic surveillance of Barrett's esophagus.

Subjects presenting to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Hospitals for routine endoscopic surveillance examinations for current Barrett's Esophagus (BE) or after successful radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of dysplastic Barrett's Esophagus (BE) will be offered enrollment in the study. After informed consent, and the same day as the endoscopic procedure, the subject will undergo administration of the Cytosponge assay. The patient will then undergo routine endoscopic surveillance, using a standard Seattle biopsy surveillance protocol. The Cytosponge will be placed in fixative and shipped to the Fitzgerald laboratory at the University of Cambridge for processing according to their established protocols. Tissue biopsies will undergo standard processing and Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining, with assessment by expert gastrointestinal pathologists at UNC. The primary outcome variables will be sensitivity and specificity of the novel assay, compared against the gold standard of the presence of recurrent BE as detected by upper endoscopy with biopsies. Secondary outcomes include acceptability of the nonendoscopic assay to the patient (assessed by a standardized tool, the Impact of Events Scale, as well as a visual analogue scale), and likelihood of assay positivity as a function of amount of residual disease (as measured by Prague criteria).

You are invited to participate in a research study to develop new ways to look for abnormal areas/tissues of the esophagus. The current endoscopes used to look at the esophagus are very good, but if the area doesn't look different to the naked eye, then the endoscope can't improve on that. The investigators are looking at using special fluorescent stains in addition to special endoscopes designed to see abnormal areas that are not obvious to the naked eye. Currently specialized microscopes and fluorescent stains are used in clinical laboratories but it takes several days of processing to get results. It may be very helpful to look for areas to sample for abnormal tissue during the endoscopy procedure. You are being asked to let us use "fluorescent peptides" with a special endoscope that allow us to "see" your esophagus with both fluorescent and white light during your upper GI endoscopy procedure to help target your biopsies. Peptides are small chains of amino acids (the building blocks that make up proteins) linked together. Our peptide is a chain of 7 amino acids attached to a fluorescent dye called FITC (like the one used by your eye doctor). The investigators have prepared special "fluorescent peptides", that will "glow" when a special light is used that should help us separate normal tissue from abnormal tissue. In this study, the investigators will apply the special fluorescent peptides by a spray catheter to your esophagus to help us target you biopsies. Both routine and targeted biopsies will be taken as your endoscopist feels is indicated. This is a phase 1b study. This means that although the investigators have applied the peptide to 25 people in our first research study, the investigators still need to learn more about "fluorescent peptide" in people. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved this agent, but is allowing us to test it in this study. The main goal of this study is to see if the peptide "glows" well and if the investigators can take pictures of the areas that do glow. This is a research study of the peptide and our ability to see it "light up or fluoresce". Being in this study and applying this peptide won't change how your biopsies are taken nor how your endoscopy is done.

Narrow Band Imaging(NBI) improves image contrast by allowing the blue light centered at 415 nanometers which is heavily absorbed by oxyhemoglobin to highlight the tissue's microvasculature and enhances detail on the surface of the mucosa revealing subtle changes. Barrett's esophagus(BE) has the mucosal and vessel changes during cancer transformation by angiogenesis. The ability of the NBI scope to visualize submucosal vessels forms the premise for the prediction of dysplasia in BE mucosa. NBI images of the BE mucosa obtained during endoscopy will be classified by academic endoscopists and community endoscopists initially. The endoscopists will then be asked to predict histopathology based on the NBI surface patterns. This clinical trial will evaluate the inter-observer agreement of a simple, consensus driven narrow band imaging (NBI) classification system of surface patterns and its ability to differentiate dysplastic versus non-dysplastic Barrett's esophagus(BE) in patients undergoing BE screening or surveillance in expert academic centers and in community GI practice as well. Their performance will be evaluated for accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of each pattern that is visualized on NBI.

This study will collect data from patients routinely undergoing a endoscopic surveillance and Cellvizio endomicroscopy procedure due to confirmed Barrett's esophagus. The objective is to determine if endomicroscopy images collected using the marketed Cellvizio device may help endoscopists more accurately diagnose, in conjunction with traditional tissue sampling techniques, whether a suspected lesion is malignant or benign.

The purpose of this project is to develop an accurate method to identify patients that suffer from acid reflux, but may not present with classic reflux symptoms (such as heart burn). Additionally, it is the purpose of this project to utilize the Unsedated Small-caliber Endoscopy (USE) to assess the prevalence of Barrett's esophagus in a population of patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) symptoms and to define normal patterns of LPR. Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is when a small amount of stomach contents and acid are pushed up through the esophagus and may affect the vocal cords and upper respiratory tract. It is suspected that patients with LPR symptoms may have a prevalence of Barrett's esophagus similar to that found in a population with typical reflux symptoms. We propose to systematically test this hypothesis using the USE. This project is designed to improve the methods of identifying patients with a form of acid reflux that is often undetected, and thus untreated. If this project is successful then more patients with Barrett's esophagus will be identified; furthermore, screening and treatment for this pre-cancerous condition will be improved.

Four quadrant biopsies in regular ranges is the goldstandard in monitoring this disease. The ideal situation for the endoscopist is to visualize cellular structures, which implies having microscopic imaging available. A potential candidate to fill this gap could be confocal fluorescence microscopy (Cellvizio®-GI and Mauna Kea Technologies). To compare the gold standard with the confocal fluorescence microscopy for detection of metaplastic - or intraepithelial neoplastic changes of barrett-suspicious esophageal mucosa this study has been initiated.