Reflux Symptoms: Can We Sort Them Out?

suggestive of GERD. Patients who have these symptoms and also have endoscopic changes of esophagitis unques- symptoms, further investigation should be performed when they are present. The other major complication of tionably have GERD [2]. The more important question is, ‘are these symptoms specific for GERD in the unendo- GERD is Barrett’s esophagus. The recent large population-based study from Scandinavia provided some guidscoped patient?’ A large Scandinavian study evaluated symptoms using a standardized questionnaire and abnor- ance on who to investigate for Barrett’s [7]. The refluxrelated factors that predicted the development of adenomal pH monitoring or endoscopic changes as the gold standard. They found that a symptom assessment had a carcinoma of the esophagus included frequency, severity and duration. Although not proven to save lives or to be good sensitivity (92%), but very poor specificity (19%) [3]. A previous study found that the daily occurrence of cost-eVective, it has been suggested that patients with long-standing, regular symptoms of GERD who are over heartburn or acid regurgitation only had positive predictive values of 59 and 66% compared to objective measures the age of 40‐50 be screened for Barrett’s esophagus and, if Barrett’s is present, be entered into a surveillance pro