Clinical

Celecoxib no help against Barrett's esophagus progression

Last Updated: 2007-04-09 9:44:05 -0400 (Reuters Health)

By David Douglas

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In patients with Barrett's esophagus, celecoxib treatment is not associated with a reduced risk of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma, researchers report in the April 4th issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"This study," lead investigator Dr. Elizabeth I. Heath told Reuters Health, "is one of the few prospective chemoprevention trials in patients with Barrett's dysplasia."

Dr. Heath of the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Trials, Baltimore, Maryland and colleagues note that because aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug may decrease the risk of developing esophageal cancer, they investigated the effect of long-term administration of celecoxib in patients with Barrett's esophagus with dysplasia.

The researchers randomized 100 patients to 200 mg of celecoxib or placebo twice daily. After 48 weeks, "no difference was observed in the median change in the proportion of biopsy samples with dysplasia or cancer between the treatment groups," they found.

"Although my colleagues and I are disappointed with the lack of secondary chemoprevention with celecoxib in patients with Barrett's dysplasia," Dr. Heath concluded, "we have gained valuable information about the disease process and the challenges of conducting such a study."

J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99:545-557.