Efficacy of esophagoprotection with short periods of withdrawal of maintenance therapy with proton pump inhibitors in patients with Barrett's esophagus

Abstract

Aim. Evaluation of the effectiveness of esophagoprotection in covering up short periods of withdrawal of maintenance therapy with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE). Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of the data of patients with histologically verified BE who received outpatient PPI therapy for at least 12 months was carried out. This cohort was divided into two groups to compare depending on the treatment regimen received. The first group included only patients who take PPIs constantly, while the second group included patients who had periodic interruptions in taking PPIs. In the second group, we analyzed only cases where to cover up the periods of PPI withdrawal the patients used the esophagoprotector Alfasoxx (10 ml 4 times a day, after each meal and at night). In the cohort, demographic data (age, gender), risk factors, length of the BE segment, degree of dysplasia, number of relapses of erosive esophagitis, and the data of high-resolution manometry on movement disorders of the thoracic esophagus (ineffective motility and lack of contractility) were analyzed. Results. The study included 39 patients (28 men and 11 women) with histologically verified BE. The average age was 57,1538 years (95% confidence interval 53.4269–60.8808). The gender structure was dominated by men (n=28). The duration of BE history in the analyzed cohort was 5.6769 years (95% confidence interval, 4.6161–6.7378). The first group consisted of 23 patients who take PPIs constantly. The second group consisted of 16 patients who had periodic interruptions in taking PPIs, which were covered by the esophagoprotector Alfasoxx. In the analyzed cohort, there were no significant differences between the groups in the average length of the BE segment, the number of patients with a long BE segment, the degree of dysplasia, the number of relapses of erosive esophagitis, and the rate of movement disorders of the thoracic esophagus. Conclusion. In routine practice, there are reasons for the temporary withdrawal of PPIs in patients with BE, which requires the administration of course esophagoprotection to cover up the risks. The results of this retrospective comparative study demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy.