Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Acid Reflux Treatment

Table of Contents

If neither approach relieves symptoms, the physician should look for other conditions. Endoscopy and other tests might be used to confirm GERD and rule out other disorders, as well as evaluate when treatment is not working. In some cases, bile, not acid, may be responsible for symptoms, so acid-reducing or blocking agents would not be helpful. (Bile is a fluid that is present in the small intestine and gallbladder.)

Surgery

Surgery may be needed in certain circumstances:

  • If lifestyle changes and drug treatments have failed
  • If patients cannot tolerate medication
  • In patients who have other medical complications
  • In younger people with chronic GERD, who face a lifetime of expense and inconvenience with maintenance drug treatment

Some physicians are recommending surgery as the treatment of choice for many more patients with chronic GERD, particularly because minimally invasive surgical procedures are becoming more widely available, and only surgery improves regurgitation. Furthermore, persistent GERD appears to be much more serious than was previously believed, and the long-term safety of using medication for acid suppression is still uncertain.

Nevertheless, anti-GERD procedures have many complications and high failure rates. As with medications, current surgical procedures cannot cure GERD. About 15% of patients still require anti-GERD medications after surgery. Furthermore, about 40% of surgical patients are at risk for new symptoms after surgery (such as gas, bloating, and trouble swallowing), with most side effects occurring more than a year after surgery. Finally, evidence now suggests that surgery does not reduce the risk for esophageal cancer in high-risk patients, such as those with Barrett's esophagus. New procedures may improve current results, but at this time patients should consider surgical options very carefully with both a surgeon and their primary doctor.

Treatments for Barrett's Esophagus

Review Date: 07/11/2010
Reviewed By: Reviewed by: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)