Heartburn (acid from the stomach coming up into the gullet) affects 1 in 10 of us every week and is often dismissed as being a harmless problem. However, chronic acid in the gullet (oesophagus) can cause a change in the lining of the gullet in over 15% of patients with heartburn, called Barrett’s

Oesophagus. This is a pre-cancerous condition for which over 500,000 people in the UK  are unaware they have as it can currently only be diagnosed at endoscopy (a camera test into the stomach called a gastroscopy.) This is important since Barrett’s can progress to Oesophageal Cancer, which is the sixth commonest cancer in the UK and one of the most rapidly rising, but it is preventable by monitoring and treatment of Barrett’s oesophagus.

Taking anti-acid medication can help reduce heartburn symptoms but this can mask the underlying problem and taking long term anti-acid medication should only be done once it is know if Barrett’s oesophagus is present or not, to allow monitoring to occur. Barrett’s can also now be removed by an endoscopic day case technique called radiofrequency ablation (BarrX) which is highly effective in resetting the gullet lining back to normal and thereby reducing future cancer risk.

See websites www.heartburncanceruk.org and www.barrettscampaign.org.uk for more details.