Current Interventional Management Of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

European Foregut Society (EFS) provides specialized platform for the thoughtful diagnostics and treatment of benign foregut diseases. Today, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) represents an important clinical challenge starting from proper diagnosis to treatment strategies. As a chronic endemic progressive disease, GERD has a huge negative impact on health-related quality of life, and may lead to Barrett’s esophagus and adenocarcinoma. GERD is complex and heterogeneous disease requiring a patient-centered and multidisciplinary approach, with more than 1/3 of patients being partial responders or non-responders to proton-pump inhibitors, with a growing concern regarding the safety of long-term pharmacological therapy. Systematic assessment of symptoms, anatomy, physiology, histopathology and burden of reflux, are mandatory to plainly identify patients with progressive disease who may benefit from early interventional management.

Interventional GERD therapy can be performed either through minimally invasive surgery or flexible endoscopy. Both methods have the potential to reinforce the lower esophageal sphincter and the gastroesophageal flap valve in order to protect the esophageal mucosa from the reflux of both acid and alkaline gastric contents. However, as an important integral part of the antireflux barrier, a crural repair is feasible only through a laparoscopic approach. The laparoscopic surgical repair is the current standard of care, while the transoral endoscopic approach represents a novel antireflux technique in Europe, with a great potential to become the method of choice in the future. Also we have to bear in mind that all interventional antireflux procedures should be performed in high-volume centers that provide comprehensive diagnosis and a spectrum of techniques tailored to the individual patient.

EFS 2^nd Belgrade postgraduate course, this time entitled Current interventional management of gastroesophageal reflux disease, is designed as a clinical immersion course exploring the latest trends, innovations and best practices combining live surgery in the field of interventional GERD treatment. The course is intended as an interactive discussions with the participants interested to get best contemporary practical and theoretical overview of endoscopic and surgical antireflux techniques. The goal of this EFS symposia is to reunite renowned European experts in foregut surgery, gastroenterology and endoscopy, in order to create a multidisciplinary board that discusses and reviews the most appropriate current antireflux interventional techniques.

Course directors

Prof. Aleksandar Simić, University Hospital for Digestive Surgery, Belgrade, Serbia
Prof. Muntzer Mughal, Cleveland Clinic London, London, UK
Prof. Nadey Hakim, Cleveland Clinic London, London, UK

EFS Postgraduate Course