Appearance and prognosis of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus.
Dysplasia in a patient who has Barrett's esophagus (BE) is the first step in the neoplastic process. The grade of dysplasia correlates with the likelihood of developing adenocarcinoma of the esophagus during follow-up surveillance endoscopy and biopsy. Surveillance intervals are proposed based on the existing data of the likelihood of developing adenocarcinoma. In the future these intervals will be refined as a result of better definition of the risk factors the development of adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. Risk stratification of the individual patients by age, gender, grade of dysplasia, length of BE, length of hiatal hernia, and presence of genetic mutations will be possible.