Screening for Barrett’s esophagus with an ultrathin endoscope in a population with chronic reflux: a cost effectiveness analysis

Purpose: Persons with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are at increased risk of developing Barrett's Esophagus (BE) and adenocarcinoma. Screening with standard endoscopy is expensive and unproven. A new ultrathin endoscope (UTE) that is less expensive, easier to use, and more portable than a standard endoscope has been developed that is highly sensitive and specific for BE and can be performed without sedation in an outpatient setting. We evaluated the cost-effectiveness (CE) of using the new endoscope to screen for BE.