Endoscopic techniques for treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease: a review of abstracts from Digestive Disease Week 2003.

Endoscopic treatments of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are a new and potentially useful form of therapy for reflux disorders. This type of treatment was first introduced at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) in 2000, and the most recent DDW, in 2003, included a growing number of abstracts describing further experience with endoscopic GERD treatments. The studies are still generally open-label trials involving relatively small patient groups given a variety of unique endoscopic GERD treatments, including radiofrequency, thermal ablation, plication suturing, and polymer injection and implantation techniques. Longer patient follow-up after Stretta (Curon Medical, Sunnyvale, CA) procedures, the permanency rate of EndoCinch (Bard Interventional Products, Billerica, MA) plication sutures, and new experiences with Enteryx (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) and Gatekeeper (Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN) procedures were highlighted at DDW 2003. Despite these unique devices with significant potential for treatment of GERD, caution was expressed concerning their clinical use in anything other than appropriately designed, scientifically validated clinical trials.