Two-year outcomes of anti-reflux mucosectomy in treating gastroesophageal reflux disease: a Chinese prospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Anti-reflux mucosectomy (ARMS) is an emerging and promising endoscopic treatment for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The current study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of ARMS in treating Chinese GERD patients.

METHODS: This was a single-center prospective cohort study. ARMS was performed in enrolled GERD patients by experienced endoscopist. These patients were required to undergo symptom assessment as well as endoscopy examination, high resolution manometry (HRM) and impedance-pH monitoring before and after ARMS.

RESULTS: A total of 12 patients were enrolled, all of whom completed follow-up at 3 and 6 months, with 11 patients at 1 year and 8 patients at 2 years after ARMS. The proportion of patients having symptom improvement at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 2 years after ARMS was 66.7%, 75.0%, 72.7%, 50.0% respectively. Post-operation dysphagia was reported by 25.0%, 25.0%, 27.3%, 25.0% of patients at 3 months, 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery, none of whom required additional invasive treatment. All patients with preoperative esophagitis healed after ARMS. For impedance-pH monitoring parameters, the number of acid reflux episodes and the proportion of patients with acid exposure time (AET) % > 4.0% decreased significantly after ARMS.

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that ARMS was safe and effective for Chinese GERD patients. The efficacy of ARMS was not short-term and remained evident throughout the 2-year follow-up period of this study. Further multicenter studies with larger sample size are still needed to verify our findings. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.