Gerd Reflux to Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

This is the most comprehensive book ever written about gastroesophageal reflux disease. Dr. Tom R. DeMeester has been the leading authority on this disease of the 20th century, and has headed for the last 15 years one of the most productive units of foregut surgery in the world. Dr. Chandrasoma has recently emerged as a leading pathologist in this area. The authors have extensively covered all aspects of gastroesophageal reflux disease, from the anatomy to the pathophysiology, from the diagnosis to the rationale for treatment. They have carefully reviewed the literature in view of their own experience, explaining how this disease can progress from symptoms to cancer. An essential reading for whoever treats patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, from gastroenterologists to surgeons. --Marco G. Patti, MD, Professor of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco

"One would be hard pressed to find a better collaboration to characterize the total clinical spectrum of esophageal adenocarcinoma than Tom DeMeester and Para Chandrasoma. This textbook is rich with the fruits of the knowledge and experience of these two outstanding investigators, including not only the full range of commonly accepted knowledge and beliefs in this field but also developing concepts on the histopathologic relationship between chronic reflux and injury to the distal esophageal mucosa that have resulted from detailed observation and clinical research from this illustrious team. Failure to appreciate the histologic changes that occur with, and therefore predict, the process of development of adenocarcinoma leave the clinician with a false sense of understanding. As the authors state, most influential physicians on the subject today simply do not look through the microscope and have no true understanding of histology. The approach that this team follows at the University of Southern California is based on their belief that to be successful, the super specialized clinical esophagologist must understand the significance of the microscopic pathology of the biopsies that are taken, and the super specialized esophageal pathologist must understand the clinical basis of columnar-lined esophagus." All of us who are involved in the care of patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma owe a debt of gratitude to Drs. DeMeester and Chandrasoma for producing the exceptional material contained within this text." --Donald O. Castell, MD, Professor of Medicine, Director, Esophageal Disorders Program, Medical University of South Carolina

Everyone interested in esophageal disease should read this book. It is unlike any other I have ever read on the subject and is likely the most controversial and thought provoking of any on this disease. The book represents the collected experience and opinions of the book s 2 authors - an accomplished pathologist (Dr. Chandrasoma) and arguably the most accomplished esophageal surgeon of his time (Dr. DeMeester) - who have worked together at the same institution for approximately 15 years in a surgical esophageal and foregut group that sees complex and difficult gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) cases. This book is extremely well written, carefully and thoughtfully prepared, and offers the open-minded reader a view of GERD that they would not read in any standard textbook or review article on the subject. The rich descriptions of the histopathology, views on carditis, cardiac intestinal metaplasia; and the microscopic definition of the gastroesophageal junction are valuable to all that study this disease. --Philp O. Katz, Thomas Jefferson University and Albert Einstein Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, Gastroenterology, 2007