To cite: Artul S, Shkara HA, Khoury R, et al. BMJ Case Rep Published online: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bcr-2013203061 DESCRIPTION A 54-year-old woman was referred to our department for upper gastrointestinal (UGI) barium study because of heartburn story for 1 month before admission. Previous endoscopic upper gastro-oesophageal study revealed no pathology. Upright UGI barium st...

Barrett's oesophagus is a metaplastic pre-malignant disorder and the only established precursor lesion for oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Barrett's oesophagus develops when the normal stratified squamous epithelium of the lower oesophagus is replaced by a columnar lined mucosa with intestinal differentiation, usually in the context of chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. The cellular and mol...

There is no satisfactory biomarker yet available for predicting the likelihood of premalignant changes or carcinoma developing in Barrett's or columnar lined oesophagus. In this study we have evaluated the proliferation of squamous epithelium, columnar epithelium from columnar lined oesophagus and gastric columnar epithelium from 23 Barrett's patients using positive immunoreactivity with the mo...

Members of the genus Gongylonema  are nematodes that commonly infect ruminants, particularly sheep and goats. An 11-year-old donkey mare was referred to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, School of Veterinary Medicine, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, northeastern Iran, with a history of acute colitis. At post-mortem examination, there were several white to pink zigzag tracks in the muco...

1. Nicotine, 20 mug/ml, briefly and partially blocked the longitudinal contractions of a chick vagus nerve-oesophagus preparation to nerve stimulation, but potentiated them in the presence of hyoscine, 10 mug/ml.2. Strychnine, 20 mug/ml, antagonized the longitudinal contractions of the chick oesophagus to nerve stimulation, though not to acetylcholine or 5-hydroxytryptamine. Hyoscine, 10 mug/ml...

BACKGROUND Patients with aerophagia are believed to have excessive belches due to air swallowing. Intraluminal impedance monitoring has made it possible to investigate the validity of this concept. METHODS The authors measured oesophageal pH and electrical impedance before and after a meal in 14 patients with excessive belching and 14 healthy controls and identified patterns of air transport ...

Achalasia of the oesophagus is a disease which has achieved more importance than would be expected, considering its extreme rarity. This is due partially to the excitement of seeing a large dilated oesophagus on x-ray but mainly because it demonstrates what can go wrong with normal physiology. The healthy oesophagus consists of a hollow muscular tube closed by a sphincter at each end, and is no...

There are few epidemiological data on the dietary risk factors of Barrett's oesophagus, a precursor of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. The present study investigated the association between vegetable, fruit and nitrate intake and Barrett's oesophagus risk in a large prospective cohort. The Netherlands Cohort Study recruited 120,852 individuals aged 55-69 years in 1986. Vegetable and fruit intake wa...

Intestinal metaplasia of the oesophagus (Barrett’s oesophagus) is the most important risk factor for oesophageal adenocarcinoma. Although the role of mixed bile and acid gastro-oesophageal reflux is well established, the contribution of nuclear receptor signalling in the pathogenesis of Barrett’s oesophagus remains largely unknown. The recent article by Chang et al. (Gut 2007;56:906–17) showing...

AIMS It has been suggested that adenocarcinomas of the lower oesophagus and gastric cardia should be reclassified as oesophagogastric junction (OGJ) cancers. This study aimed to define the frequency of OGJ cancers in a geographically defined population of 4.3 million people. METHODS All cases of oesophageal and gastric cancer occurring in 1993 were identified by the North Western Regional Can...