An 89-year-old man underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Endoscopy revealed a depressed lesion partially covered with squamous epithelium (SE) on the squamocolumnar junction in Barrett’s esophagus (Figure A, arrow). Earlier, pathologic results of biopsies showed changes indefinite for neoplasia. Vonoprazan, a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB), was administered for 2 months, and the patient was re-examined. An endoscopy revealed SE covering a wide area, and the lesion became more difficult to recognize (Figure B). Pathologically, a biopsy specimen showed changes indefinite for dysplasia. Hence, vonoprazan administration was discontinued.
After 4 months, third endoscopy showed SE covering receded to the oral side, and a portion of the lesion was exposed (Figure C). Biopsy of the lesion revealed well-differentiated adenocarcinoma. Endoscopic submucosal dissection was performed, and histopathology of the resected specimen revealed Barrett’s esophageal adenocarcinoma (BEA) in contact with the SE (Figure D).
The use of proton pump inhibitors or P-CAB often masks BEA with SE and makes diagnosis difficult. However, it was unclear whether BEA, once covered with SE, would be re-exposed after discontinuing proton pump inhibitor/P-CAB. This is a valuable case because changes in the SE covering BEA before, during, and after taking P-CAB were observed. Hence, discontinuation of antacid could be helpful for the recognition of BEA.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: April 13, 2022
Accepted:
April 8,
2022
Received:
March 10,
2022
Footnotes
Conflicts of Interest: The authors disclose no conflicts.
Funding: The authors report no funding.
Ethical Statement: The corresponding author, on behalf of all authors, jointly and severally, certifies that their institution has approved the protocol for any investigation involving humans or animals and that all experimentation was conducted in conformity with ethical and humane principles of research.
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© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the AGA Institute.
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