New balloon treatment may replace High-Risk surgery for esophagus condition

This study compared two treatments for people with Barrett's esophagus who have high-grade dysplasia, a precancerous condition. One treatment is surgery to remove part of the esophagus, which has serious risks. The other is a newer, less invasive procedure called radiofrequency ablation, which uses a balloon with tiny electrodes to burn away the abnormal cells. The goal was to see if the ablation is as effective as surgery at removing all precancerous cells, with fewer side effects. The study involved 87 adults who were healthy enough for either treatment.