Advances in the diagnosis and management of gastroesophageal reflux disease

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STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

Advances in the diagnosis and management of

                                                                                                                                                          BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
­gastroesophageal reflux disease
David A Katzka,1 Peter J Kahrilas2
                                        A BST RAC T

1
                                       Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a multifaceted disorder encompassing
 Mayo Clinic, Division of
Gastroenterology and                   a family of syndromes attributable to, or exacerbated by, gastroesophageal
Hepatology, Rochester, MN,
USA
                                       reflux that impart morbidity, mainly through troublesome symptoms. Major GERD
2
 Northwestern University,              phenotypes are non-erosive reflux disease, GERD hypersensitivity, low or high
Feinberg School of Medicine,
Department of Medicine,                grade esophagitis, Barrett’s esophagus, reflux chest pain, laryngopharyngeal
Chicago, IL USA
                                       reflux, and regurgitation dominant reflux. GERD is common throughout the world,
Correspondence to: PJ Kahrilas
p-kahrilas@northwestern.edu            and its epidemiology is linked to the Western lifestyle, obesity, and the demise of
Cite this as: BMJ 2020;371:m3786
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m3786
                                       Helicobacter pylori. Because of its prevalence and chronicity, GERD is a substantial
Series explanation: State of the
                                       economic burden measured in physician visits, diagnostics, cancer surveillance
Art Reviews are commissioned
on the basis of their relevance
                                       protocols, and therapeutics. An individual with typical symptoms has a fivefold risk
to academics and specialists           of developing esophageal adenocarcinoma, but mortality from GERD is otherwise
in the US and internationally.
For this reason they are written       rare. The principles of management are to provide symptomatic relief and to
predominantly by US authors.
                                       minimize potential health risks through some combination of lifestyle modifications,
                                       diagnostic testing, pharmaceuticals (mainly to suppress or counteract gastric acid
                                       secretion), and surgery. However, it is usually a chronic recurring condition and
                                       management needs to be personalized to each case. While escalating proton pump
                                       inhibitor therapy may be pertinent to healing high grade esophagitis, its applicability
                                       to other GERD phenotypes wherein the modulating effects of anxiety, motility,
                                       hypersensitivity, and non-esophageal factors may dominate is highly questionable.

                                      Introduction                                                symptomatically, endoscopically, or by physiological
                                      Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) has been             testing, which impart morbidity through troublesome
                                      defined from varied perspectives. According to the          symptoms and/or risk.
                                      Montreal definition,1 “GERD is a condition which              Being a common disease with diverse
                                      develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes         manifestations, GERD is managed by many clinicians
                                      troublesome symptoms and/or complications.” The             across many specialties: general practitioners,
                                      elegance of this definition is in its simplicity, uniting   internists,       gastroenterologists,      surgeons,
                                      a large, seemingly unrelated set of symptoms and            emergency department physicians, hospitalists,
                                      potential complications. However, the Montreal              otolaryngologists, pulmonologists, obstetricians,
                                      definition does not consider cofactors that interact        and pediatricians. This has spawned a variety of
                                      with reflux, leading to atypical phenotypes captured        perspectives. Several management topics—including
                                      under that umbrella. The Lyon Consensus definition2         the usage and safety of proton pump inhibitors
                                      is physiomorphologic, defining GERD by the presence         (PPIs), the indications for endoscopy, recommended
                                      of excess gastroesophageal reflux, esophageal motor         dietary interventions, and the roles of surgical and
                                      perturbations, and increased epithelial permeability        endoscopic interventions—have evolved in recent
                                      that can be associated with reflux. However, most of        years, resulting in a somewhat overwhelming volume
                                      these features are non-specific for GERD. The Rome          of publications. This narrative review is intended to
                                      IV Conference definition3 is symptom based, focused         simplify this often contradictory literature on GERD
                                      on defining functional syndromes with GERD                  in the adult population for clinicians, academicians,
                                      characteristics. However, functional syndromes can          and clinical researchers.
                                      mimic GERD without reflux causality. Merging these
                                      documents is challenging. In this review, GERD is           Sources and selection criteria
                                      defined as a family of syndromes attributable to, or        We searched PubMed, Medline, and the Cochrane
                                      exacerbated by, gastroesophageal reflux, evident            databases from 2010 to May of 2020 using the search

the bmj | BMJ 2020;371:m3786 | doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3786                                                                                                1
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

                                                                            Pathogenesis
                ABBREVIATIONS

                                                                                                                                          BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                                                                            Obesity and the Western lifestyle
                EAC: esophageal adenocarcinoma; EGJ:                        Several studies have shown a correlation between
                esophagogastric junction; GERD: gastroesophageal            obesity and GERD and a stronger correlation between
                reflux disease; H2RA: histamine-2 receptor antagonist;      central adiposity and GERD complications including
                LES: lower esophageal sphincter; MSA: magnetic              EAC.13 A meta-analysis of 107 international studies
                sphincter augmentation; NERD: non-erosive reflux            demonstrated a 1.73 relative risk of at least weekly
                disease; PCAB: potassium competitive acid blocker;          GERD symptoms in obese patients, albeit in a pooled
                PPIs: proton pump inhibitors; TIF: transoral incisionless   analysis with a large amount of heterogeneity among
                fundoplication                                              studies.5 In a separate meta-analysis of 40 studies,
                                                                            patients with central adiposity had a 1.87 relative
               terms gastroesophageal reflux, gastroesophageal              risk of erosive esophagitis (95% confidence interval,
               reflux disease, esophagitis, Barrett’s esophagus,            1.51 to 2.31) and a 1.98-fold risk of Barrett’s
               esophageal       hypersensitivity,      hypersensitive       esophagus that persisted after adjusting for body
               esophagus, non-erosive gastroesophageal reflux,              mass index.13 Mechanistically, central adiposity
               and functional heartburn. Sifting through the results,       leads to increased intra-abdominal and intragastric
               we prioritized studies by design, likely interest to the     pressure challenging the anti-reflux barrier and
               readership, and publication date, and we included            promoting the development of hiatus hernia. Obesity
               older studies of continued relevance. Our initial            is also associated with overeating, causing gastric
               search returned more than 13 000 unique citations            distension and eliciting transient lower esophageal
               making it especially difficult to limit this narrative       sphincter (LES) relaxations.14 Metabolic sequelae of
               review. No patient input was solicited.                      central obesity may also play a role: even without
                                                                            pathologic reflux, the distal esophageal epithelium
               Prevalence and geographic distribution                       of obese patients exhibits increased permeability,
               GERD is a worldwide disease with reported prevalence         indicative of a perturbed epithelial barrier.15
               values ranging from 2.5% in China to 51.2% in
               Greece.4 5 This range is likely reflective of both true      Helicobacter pylori
               differences and methodological factors, with some            Although discovered relatively recently, H pylori is
               surveys equating GERD with weekly heartburn                  known to have infected humans for at least 50 000
               and/or regurgitation and others stipulating erosive          years.16 Its strongest disease associations are in
               esophagitis. Interestingly, although the prevalence          promoting peptic ulcers and gastric cancer. However,
               of GERD symptoms is similar among racial groups,6            the infection may also provide protective effects with
               complications of GERD such as erosive esophagitis            respect to GERD. Epidemiologic data demonstrate
               and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) are more                 that erosive esophagitis, Barrett’s esophagus, and
               common in white people, particularly with central            EAC are inversely related to H pylori infection.17 18
               obesity. Reflux is also increasingly common in young         The proposed protective mechanism is that chronic H
               adults with the greatest increase seen in people aged        pylori gastritis leads to atrophic gastritis and relative
               30-39 7 and EAC increasing in patients under 50.8            hypochlorhydria, which in turn diminishes the
                                                                            acidity of gastroesophageal reflux. Supporting this
               Morbidity and mortality                                      concept, PPIs are more effective in the presence of H
               Although GERD itself is not a fatal condition,               pylori,19 owing to the already diminished gastric acid
               potentially morbid complications include EAC,                secretion. However, two large randomized controlled
               bleeding, esophageal rupture, aspiration, lung               trials of H pylori eradication versus placebo did not
               transplant rejection, aspiration pneumonia, and              show an increase in reflux symptoms two years after
               iatrogenic causes including surgery and dilations.           eradication,20 21 leaving open the possibility that
               The Canadian annual death rate directly related to           the observed inverse association between H pylori
               GERD was estimated as 65 patients.9 In a Swedish             infection and GERD is not a causal one.
               population study, the annual death rate was
               0.20/100 000 caused by hemorrhagic esophagitis               Physiology: the Lyon Consensus
               (51.9%), aspiration pneumonia (34.6%), perforated            The Lyon Consensus analyzed the role of physiological
               esophageal ulcer (9.6%), and spontaneous                     testing in GERD diagnosis.2 This consensus agreed
               esophageal rupture (3.9%).10                                 that the cornerstone of GERD pathophysiology is
                  On the other hand, the societal cost of GERD              incompetence of the esophagogastric junction (EGJ)
               is substantial. In 2004-05, the annual direct                evident both by separation between the crural
               cost for GERD care in Canada was C$52 235 910                diaphragm and LES as occurs with hiatus hernia,22
               (£30.2 million , €33.4 million).9 In the US, GERD            and a low EGJ contractile index, an integral of
               accounted for 8 863 568 physician visits, 65 634             sphincter pressure over time derived from high
               hospitalizations, and an estimated $12.3 billion             resolution manometry.23 Whereas historically,
               spent on upper endoscopies in a year.11 In Japan, the        investigators have focused solely on low LES pressure
               mean medical cost for GERD patients aged 20-59 was           as indicative of an impaired reflux barrier, the EGJ
               $266 per patient per month in 2014, about 2.4 times          contractile index broadens the concept to include
               the mean national healthcare cost.12                         both the crural diaphragm and the LES. A low EGJ

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STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

                               contractile index is common with erosive esophagitis       in high grade esophagitis patients, first healed

                                                                                                                                                    BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                               and Barrett’s esophagus.                                   with PPIs, and then observed to develop recurrent
                                 Many GERD patients have an EGJ contractility             esophagitis with cessation of PPI therapy.31 These
                               index within the normal range yet still exhibit            findings suggest that alternative pharmacologic
                               excessive acid reflux by the mechanism of transient        approaches independent of acid suppression may be
                               LES relaxation,24 the physiologic mechanism of             feasible to treat esophagitis.
                               belching. Transient LES relaxations occur through
                               a vago-vagal reflex triggered by distension of the         Diagnostic testing: endoscopy, reflux monitoring,
                               proximal stomach.25 What appears to differentiate          motility testing
                               GERD patients from normal controls is the frequency        Endoscopy is the primary test for suspected GERD
                               with which transient LES relaxations are associated        syndromes because of its availability, relative
                               with acid (liquid) reflux as opposed to only venting       safety, biopsy capability, therapeutic potential,
                               gas.24 Mechanistically, this is facilitated by increased   and specificity of potential findings. Using the
                               compliance of the EGJ, leading to wider opening (and       Los Angeles Classification, four severity grades of
                               larger volumes of reflux) during relaxation.26             esophagitis (A-D) are defined, based on the extent of
                                                                                          erosions (mucosal breaks) in the distal esophagus.
                               Hiatus hernia: the co-conspirator                          The Lyon Consensus considered only Los Angeles C
                               Axial or sliding hiatal hernia is strongly associated      and D esophagitis to be hard evidence of GERD, but
                               with GERD, particularly with peptic esophagitis and        we extend that to include Los Angeles B esophagitis
                               its complications, to the point that some patients         with the caveat that it must be accurately graded. Los
                               and physicians view hiatal hernia and GERD as              Angeles A esophagitis, on the other hand, is found in
                               being synonymous. While that is clearly erroneous,         5-7% of normal individuals and is not hard evidence
                               the contribution of a hiatal hernia to GERD                of GERD.32 33 Other potentially relevant findings are
                               pathophysiology is profound and multifaceted.              peptic strictures, Barrett’s metaplasia, and hiatus
                               The most obvious effect is of separating the two           hernia.
                               functional components of the EGJ, the LES and the            Prolonged      ambulatory      esophageal     reflux
                               crural diaphragm, thereby diminishing their ability        monitoring (pH or combined pH impedance) has three
                               to work in concert as a barrier to reflux events and       potential uses in managing GERD: 1) quantifying
                               in promoting esophageal acid clearance following           abnormal esophageal acid exposure in the absence of
                               reflux. Another mechanistic role of hiatal hernia in       esophagitis; 2) determining if a patient’s symptoms
                               GERD has been proposed: the repositioning of the           correlate with reflux events; and 3) determining if
                               acid pocket.27 The acid pocket forms postprandially        gastroesophageal reflux (acid or weakly acidic in
                               as newly secreted acid layers on top of ingested           the case of pH impedance studies) is controlled by
                               food, becoming the reservoir for postprandial reflux.      therapy. This becomes relevant in evaluating atypical
                               With a hiatal hernia, the acid pocket migrates into        symptoms or refractory symptoms despite ostensibly
                               the hernia compartment and facilitates exposure            adequate pharmacologic and/or surgical therapy.
                               of the distal esophageal epithelium to gastric             Verifying physiologically defined disease is also
                               acid during any period of LES relaxation, even             essential when considering procedural therapies for
                               that associated with swallowing or secondary               GERD.
                               peristalsis.28 A postulated mechanism of action of           High     resolution    manometry       can    detect
                               alginate compounds in treating GERD is of capping          physiological abnormalities associated with
                               the acid pocket with a protective gelatinous raft          GERD such as a low EGJ contractility index, hiatus
                               and displacing it away from the LES.29 The Lyon            hernia, or weak/absent peristalsis, but is not useful
                               Consensus endorsed the significance of hiatal hernia       in defining treatment. The exception is when
                               in GERD pathophysiology, particularly when >3 cm           procedural treatments are contemplated, in which
                               in size.                                                   case manometry is mandated to detect unsuspected
                                                                                          achalasia and to ascertain that peristaltic function
                               The inflammation hypothesis                                is sufficiently preserved for the contemplated
                               The conventional model of reflux esophagitis has           intervention.34 35
                               been the “burn hypothesis” proposing that the
                               caustic effects of hydrochloric acid combined with         GERD phenotypes
                               enzymatic digestion by pepsin erodes the esophageal        Implicit in the Montreal definition is that GERD
                               epithelium from the lumen inward. However, recent          can be defined either by endoscopic features or by
                               experiments have challenged this concept, instead          a symptom complex caused by gastroesophageal
                               proposing that much of the injury is chronic and           reflux. This creates management challenges because
                               chemokine mediated.30 In rats, acutely induced             the determinants of mucosal injury differ from
                               reflux esophagitis was associated with lymphocyte          the determinants of symptoms and it would be
                               infiltration, initially at the submucosa, progressing to   unreasonable to think that treatment strategies should
                               the epithelial surface. The lymphocytic inflammation       not differ as well. The evolving concept is that rather
                               was associated with secretion of IL-8 and IL-1β            than being a continuum of disease with esophagitis
                               and an injury pattern that persisted for weeks. An         simply exemplifying more severe non-erosive reflux
                               analogous process was subsequently demonstrated            disease (NERD), GERD has distinct phenotypes, each

the bmj | BMJ 2020;371:m3786 | doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3786                                                                                         3
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

                                     with unique and shared features.36Table 1 itemizes                     that has much better survival or, more commonly,

                                                                                                                                                                                    BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                                     the major GERD phenotypes along with important                         the precursor lesion, Barrett’s metaplasia. Hence,
                                     distinguishing features.                                               societal guidelines (with considerable variability,
                                        Supporting the concept of GERD as a family                          table 239-44) have proposed using symptom burden
                                     of phenotypes are 20 year longitudinal data                            as criteria for endoscopic screening and subsequent
                                     showing that progression from NERD to high grade                       surveillance of Barrett’s esophagus.38 45 Although
                                     esophagitis, stricture, or Barrett’s esophagus is                      controversial, a systematic analysis of retrospective
                                     uncommon. Additionally, patients with severe                           case-control studies suggested that such Barrett’s
                                     esophagitis or Barrett’s esophagus have important                      surveillance programs lead to earlier EAC diagnosis
                                     predispositions, typically being white, male, having                   and improved mortality.46 Up to 40% of EAC patients
                                     central obesity, and family history. This is in contrast               present without a preceding history of significant
                                     to NERD where there is neither racial nor gender                       reflux symptoms, however.47 Furthermore, 80%-
                                     predilection. The degree to which esophageal                           95% of EAC patients present de novo.48 49 In other
                                     hypersensitivity plays into pathophysiology also                       words, only a small minority of EAC patients have
                                     varies widely among phenotypes. The Rome IV                            a symptom burden of sufficient severity to warrant
                                     classification conceptualized this within the NERD                     endoscopic screening for a Barrett’s surveillance
                                     population by subdividing it into “true NERD,” reflux                  program.
                                     hypersensitivity, and functional heartburn with reflux
                                     as the dominant symptom determinant at one end                         Atypical and extraesophageal manifestations
                                     and hypersensitivity as the dominant determinant at                    Reflux has been implicated in causing myriad
                                     the other end (functional heartburn).37 In summary,                    atypical    and    extraesophageal      syndromes—
                                     although gastroesophageal reflux is a contributing                     laryngitis, pharyngitis, chronic cough, postnasal
                                     element to all of these syndromes (with the possible                   drip, non-cardiac chest pain, bronchiectasis, poorly
                                     exception of functional heartburn), its dominance as                   controlled asthma, globus, cardiac arrhythmias,
                                     a pathophysiological determinant ranges widely.                        laryngeal cancer, subglottic stenosis, vocal fold
                                                                                                            granulomata, halitosis, dental erosions, hiccups,
                                     Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal                                     aspiration pneumonia, pulmonary fibrosis, lung
                                     adenocarcinoma                                                         transplant rejection, sleep apnea, burning tongue,
                                     The most severe potential consequence of GERD is                       dysgeusia, and chronic sinusitis—with the strength
                                     EAC, a cancer whose incidence has risen precipitously                  of supportive evidence for each entity ranging from
                                     in the West for the past three decades, paralleling                    sheer conjecture to supportive treatment trials.50
                                     that of GERD. A now classic epidemiological study                      Reliable attribution of these syndromes to GERD
                                     links these trends, and shows a dose dependent                         is confounded by proposed pathogenesis models
                                     relation such that patients with severe reflux                         distinct from those of esophageal syndromes,
                                     symptoms (>3 times per week for >5 years) have a 16-                   promoting the hypothesis that physiologic (or
                                     fold increased risk of EAC.38 Furthermore, most EAC                    “silent”) reflux may be injurious. Symptoms such
                                     presents at an advanced stage with poor prognosis                      as cough or arrhythmias may result from shared
                                     and poor 5 year survival. This led to screening                        neural pathways stimulated by reflux, but not to the
                                     endoscopy protocols to detect either early EAC                         threshold required to elicit esophageal symptoms. It

 Table 1 | Major GERD phenotypes with key distinguishing features
 GERD syndrome                             Distinguishing features
 Non-erosive reflux disease (NERD)       • Heterogeneous population
                                          ➢ When defined by pH-metry, very similar to low grade esophagitis, but when defined by symptoms, overlaps with GERD
                                             hypersensitivity and functional heartburn
 Reflux hypersensitivity                 • Esophageal hypersensitivity
 Functional heartburn                     ➢ Conceptually differentiated by pH-metry or pH impedance findings, but in practice, these entities can be clinically indistinguishable
 Low grade erosive esophagitis           • Poor EGJ barrier function with excess acid reflux and typical reflux symptoms (heartburn and regurgitation)
 (Los Angeles grade A or B)               ➢ LA A esophagitis found in about 6% of asymptomatic controls making it a non-specific finding
 High grade erosive esophagitis,         • Prolonged esophageal acid clearance with grossly abnormal EGJ function and prominent recumbent (nocturnal) reflux
 (LA grade C or D)                        ➢ Usually associated with hiatus hernia and impaired esophageal motility
 Barrett’s esophagus                     • Greatest risk for esophageal adenocarcinoma
                                          ➢ Endoscopic spectrum from intestinal metaplasia at the EGJ to short segment Barrett’s to long segment Barrett’s (>3 cm)
                                          ➢ Biological spectrum from non-dysplastic metaplasia to low grade dysplasia to high grade dysplasia
                                          ➢ Indicative of both acid and bile reflux
                                          ➢ Independent risk factors: central obesity, male gender, white ethnicity, smoking, genetics
 Reflux chest pain syndrome              • Chest pain that can be indistinguishable from angina
                                          ➢ Reflux is the most common cause of esophageal chest pain
                                          ➢ Much more amenable to GERD therapy when associated with +pH-metry, esophagitis, or typical reflux symptoms
                                          ➢ Partial rather than complete symptom resolution with treatment is common
 Regurgitation dominant                  • Grossly incompetent EGJ barrier with frequent large volume reflux often elicited by postural changes or abdominal straining
 reflux disease                           ➢ Much less responsive than heartburn to medical therapy
                                          ➢ Need to differentiate from rumination and achalasia
 Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR)          • Usually multifactorial with dominant non-esophageal cofactors exacerbated by reflux
 Chronic cough                            ➢ Strongly driven by neuronal hypersensitivity
                                          ➢ More amenable to GERD therapy when associated with abnormal pH-metry, esophagitis, or typical reflux symptoms

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 Table 2 | Societal guidelines for Barrett’s/EAC screening and surveillance endoscopy

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 Society       Screening endoscopy recommendations                                                  Surveillance endoscopy recommendations
 BSG39         • Not feasible or justified for an unselected population with reflux symptoms        • Suspected Barrett’s 5 years) and/or frequent reflux symptoms and • Barrett’s with no dysplasia, 3-5 years
 2015             ≥2 risk factors (age >50 years, white, central obesity, smoking, first degree     • After initial examination, no repeat endoscopy in 1 year
                  relative with Barrett’s or EAC)
               • Not recommended in females
               • Consider with multiple risk factors (age >50 years, white, chronic and/or
                  frequent reflux symptoms, central obesity, smoking, first degree relative with
                  Barrett’s or EAC).
 CCA44         • Consider based on age, sex, reflux history, central adiposity, smoking, and       • Barrett’s with intestinal metaplasia
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

              of lifestyle modifications, diagnostic testing,          Antacids, alginates, and surface acting compounds

                                                                                                                                     BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
              pharmaceuticals, and surgery. The decision of            Antacids neutralize gastric acid without reducing
              whether or not to perform diagnostic testing is          acid secretion, thereby briefly relieving GERD
              based on the management history, risk assessment,        symptoms. However, their efficacy may be
              and symptom assessment. Generally speaking,              enhanced when combined with alginates, natural
              empiric therapy is appropriate for typical GERD          polysaccharide polymers that precipitate into a low
              symptoms, whereas atypical symptoms, a history of        density viscous gel on contact with acid. The acid
              failed treatments, or alarm symptoms (dysphagia,         also releases CO2 from the bicarbonate. With the CO2
              bleeding, vomiting, or unintentional weight loss)        trapped in the alginate gel, this mixture floats to the
              prompt endoscopic evaluation. The objective of           top of the gastric content.64 Newly secreted acid also
              endoscopy is both diagnostic and to control the          layers on top of an ingested meal forming the “acid
              risk of EAC by detecting early cancers or identifying    pocket” evident within 20 minutes of eating and
              Barrett’s metaplasia as a marker of a high risk group    serving as the reservoir for post-cibal acid reflux.65 66
              suitable for subsequent endoscopic surveillance.         The alginate-antacid gel displaces the acid pocket
              Performing endoscopy on patients with typical reflux     distally, positioning it away from the EGJ causing
              symptoms, but without alarm symptoms, is unlikely        the gel to reflux in lieu of acid.67-69 Analogous to
              to alter management, however. Illustrative of this       this, a hyaluronic acid-chondroitin sulfate based
              are data from a US database of 543 103 endoscopies       bioadhesive formulation has been developed to
              performed from 2003 through 2014 which identified        create a barrier on the esophageal mucosa to reduce
              73 535 (13.5% of the total) done for uncomplicated       contact with refluxate. A randomized, double blind
              GERD symptoms.58 Expressed as a percentage of            trial of 154 patients with NERD showed that the
              positive findings, the yield of these procedures was     combination of the mucosal protectant and acid
              0.1% for esophageal tumors, 0.1% for gastric tumors,     suppression improved symptom relief in NERD
              2.8% for esophageal strictures, 2% for high grade        patients compared with acid suppression alone
              esophagitis, and 1.4% for suspected long segment         (53% v 32%, P4 is a
              index and frequent reflux symptoms.60 The benefit        reliable physiomarker of effectiveness in high grade
              of weight loss for controlling GERD symptoms has         esophagitis,71 72 with the target being 50-70% of a 24
              not been demonstrated in clinical trials, however,       hour period.73 This value varies from 35-68% of the
              and instead rests on observational epidemiology.61-63    day at 5 day steady state among different PPIs (with
              Nonetheless, if weight gain paralleled the               substantial inter-individual variability) and is up to
              development of reflux symptoms, even without             93% of the day on the first day of administration for
              the individual being overweight, it is reasonable to     the PCAB, vonoprazan (fig 1). However, translating
              propose weight loss as a treatment strategy.             the data in figure 1 to the clinical endpoint of healing

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                                 esophagitis is challenging. This is exemplified in           of therapy. However, with their widespread long

                                                                                                                                                           BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                                 figure 2, which illustrates the results of a randomized,     term use over the past few decades, the relation
                                 double blind, parallel group, dose ranging study, in         between PPIs and a multitude of adverse outcomes
                                 732 subjects comparing vonoprazan with a mid-                has been scrutinized, causing a backlash against
                                 potency PPI, lansoprazole 30 mg.74 Although trends           PPI use. Adverse consequences are the proposed
                                 toward greater efficacy are evident at the two week          result of either profound acid inhibition, secondary
                                 time point for LA C/D esophagitis with the higher            hypergastrinemia, or idiosyncratic reactions.
                                 doses of vonoprazan, none of the differences are             However, most of this literature stems from
                                 clinically or statistically significant. It should also be   observational population based studies and only
                                 emphasized that a drug’s efficacy in healing high grade      one relevant randomized controlled trial: a placebo
                                 esophagitis does not necessarily parallel its efficacy       controlled, randomized, double blind trial of 17 598
                                 for symptomatic clinical endpoints wherein reflux            participants with stable cardiovascular disease
                                 acidity is but one of multiple symptom determinants.         randomized to pantoprazole 40 mg daily or placebo
                                 Figure 3 compares the randomized controlled trial            as well as one of four anticoagulant regimens.79
                                 data on the efficacy of PPIs for healing esophagitis         Prospective data were collected for a median of
                                 with that of resolving key symptomatic endpoints:            three years (53 152 patient years of follow-up) on a
                                 resolving heartburn and regurgitation. Not only is           variety of adverse outcomes put forth in population
                                 the efficacy substantially lower for the symptomatic         based studies as PPI “risks”: pneumonia, Clostridium
                                 endpoints, but within the individual PPI trials that         difficile infection, other enteric infections, fractures,
                                 tested multiple doses, no dose-response relation was         gastric atrophy, chronic kidney disease, diabetes,
                                 seen for either heartburn or regurgitation relief.75-77      chronic obstructive lung disease, dementia,
                                 Furthermore, a 13% difference in therapeutic gain is         cardiovascular disease, cancer, hospitalizations, and
                                 evident for heartburn dependent on whether or not it         all cause mortality. The only significant difference
                                 occurs in the context of erosive esophagitis or NERD,        found between the pantoprazole and placebo groups
                                 suggesting that its specificity as an acid induced           was for enteric infections (1.4% versus 1.0% in the
                                 symptom is less in the absence of esophagitis.               placebo group; odds ratio, 1.33). For all other safety
                                    Whatever the presentation of GERD, the likelihood         outcomes, proportions were similar between groups
                                 of spontaneous, sustained remission is low and               except for C difficile infection, which exhibited a
                                 maintenance therapy is usually required. Although            trend to being more common with pantoprazole.
                                 even the most severe esophagitis can be healed                  Proponents of population based epidemiology
                                 with PPIs, recurrence is in approximately 80% of             argue that the 3 year randomized controlled trial was
                                 patients within six months of discontinuation78 and          still too small and too short to detect rare long term
                                 the likelihood of recurrence is directly related to the      adverse events associated with PPI use. Instead they
                                 initial severity of esophagitis. Symptoms also usually       point to the many population based studies and meta-
                                 relapse after PPI discontinuation. Maintenance               analyses of PPI risks summarized in table 3.80-101
                                 therapy should be adjusted to the minimal level of acid      However, the mechanistic hypotheses that link these
                                 suppression necessary to maintain symptom relief.            adverse outcomes to PPI use are without support
                                 Irrespective of instructions, most patients do this on       from experimental studies. Population based studies
                                 their own, adopting on-demand or intermittent PPI            are subject to unrecognized, uncontrolled bias (for
                                 dosing as required for symptom control.59                    instance, frailty), or recognized but inadequately
                                                                                              controlled bias, such that odds ratios of less than
                                 PPI safety                                                   3 in such studies rarely prove to be meaningful.102
                                 For short term use, PPIs have proven quite safe.             Applying that filter to the data in table 3 reduces the
                                 Side effects include headache (4 for 50%-70% of the day to facilitate healing of high grade esophagitis

the bmj | BMJ 2020;371:m3786 | doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3786                                                                                                 7
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

     LOW GRADE ESOPHAGITIS       (Los Angeles A/B)                                                     HIGH GRADE ESOPHAGITIS           (Los Angeles C/D)

                                                                                                                                                                        BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                                                                   92%                                                                     83%
Lansoprazole 30 mg
                                                                      97%
                                                                                    N=86                                                         94%
                                                                                                                                                                 N=46

                                                               86%                                                                      78%
      Vonoprazan 5 mg
                                                                      98%
                                                                                    N=88                                                         95%
                                                                                                                                                                 N=55

                                                                   93%                                                                        89%
     Vonoprazan 10 mg
                                                                      96%
                                                                                    N=89                                                         93%
                                                                                                                                                                 N=44

                                                                   94%                                                                              96%
     Vonoprazan 20 mg
                                                                   93%
                                                                                    N=94                                                            100%
                                                                                                                                                                 N=50

                                                                   94%                                                                              96%
     Vonoprazan 40 mg
                                                                     95%
                                                                                    N=84                                                            96%
                                                                                                                                                                 N=50
                        0%    20%       40%          60%        80%          100%                 0%        20%        40%        60%         80%         100%

                             2 weeks
                             8 weeks
Fig 2 | Results of a dose ranging randomized controlled trial comparing vonoprazan with lansoprazole for healing low and high grade esophagitis.
Healing was assessed by endoscopy after two weeks and eight weeks of treatment. Although a trend toward faster healing with high grade
esophagitis was evident, none of the differences in healing rates are significant. Data from Ashida, 2015

                               of which are also supported by either prospectively                      GABAB agonist inhibits the vagal pathway for transient
                               collected data in the case of enteric infections or very                 LES relaxations, but the side effects of somnolence
                               convincing case reports in the case of acute interstitial                and dizziness limit its clinical utility for GERD. Hence,
                               nephritis. In summary, although observational                            novel GABAB agonists were developed to avoid these
                               epidemiological data have prompted great concern,                        side effects. Lesogaberon was the candidate drug
                               prospective studies have yet to show any significant                     that progressed furthest in clinical trials, but phase
                               risk of chronic PPI use.                                                 II clinical trials failed to show clinically significant
                                                                                                        additive benefit to PPIs and, with only that modest
                               Reflux inhibition and prokinetic drugs                                   benefit,103 development was halted. Consequently,
                               Since transient LES relaxations are a common                             baclofen remains the only reflux inhibitor currently
                               mechanism of reflux, their pharmacological inhibition                    available, albeit without that approved indication
                               represents an attractive treatment target. Baclofen, a                   and with very limiting side effects.

                                                                                                                      83.6%
                                                      Esophagitis healing
                                                                                         28.2%
                                                                                                                                           NNT=1.8

                                                                                                         56%
                                                          Heartburn relief
                                                                                  16%
                                                                                                                                           NNT=2.4
                                              With or without esophagitis

                                                                                             39.7%
                                                         Heartburn relief
                                                                          12.6%
                                                                                                                                           NNT=3.7
                                                     Without esophagitis

                                                                                                  47%
                                                      Regurgitation relief
                                                                                           30%
                                                                                                                                           NNT=5.9
                                              With or without esophagitis
                                                                             0%             25%          50%           75%          100%

                                                                                   PPI
                                                                                   Placebo
                               Fig 3 | The diminishing efficacy of PPIs going from healing esophagitis to treatment for cardinal GERD symptoms with
                               or without coexistent esophagitis. Data are from randomized controlled trials using once daily PPIs. NNT=number
                               needed to treat to benefit one individual

8                                                                                                             doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3786 | BMJ 2020;371:m3786 | the bmj
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

 Table 3 | Summary of observational epidemiology reports (meta-analyses or population          clinical guidelines recommend against its use in
                                                                                               GERD.59

                                                                                                                                                          BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
 based studies) of adverse outcomes associated with long term PPI use. For each adverse
 outcome, only one report (most recent, largest, or highest quality) is included. Note
 that these associations do not prove causation and only the adverse outcome of enteric        Visceral hypersensitivity
 infections has been supported by randomized controlled trial data (see text)                  Evident in table 1, several of the major GERD
                                   OR, HR, or          95% Confidence                          phenotypes       have    esophageal       or    visceral
  Adverse outcome                  RR with PPI use     interval           Patients analyzed
                                                                                               hypersensitivity as a distinguishing feature.
 All cause mortality80             1.68                1.53-1.84          20k
 Bone related
                                                                                               Antidepressants      may     modulate        esophageal
 All fractures81                   1.5                 1.16-1.45          1.5m                 sensitivity, potentially benefiting these syndromes.
 Dental implant failure82          2.02                1.41-2.88          5k                   Supportive of this, trazodone, a serotonin antagonist
 Hip fracture83                    1.2                 1.14-1.28          2.1m                 and reuptake inhibitor, was more effective than
 Osteoporosis81                    1.23                1.06-1.42          100k                 placebo in 29 symptomatic patients with motility
 Spine fracture81                  1.49                1.31.-1.68         700k                 abnormalities completing a 6 week, double blind,
 Wrist fracture83                  1.09                0.95-1.20          —
                                                                                               placebo controlled trial.107 Similarly, a selective
 Cancer
                                                                                               serotonin reuptake inhibitor, citalopram, reduced
 Colorectal cancer84               1.55                0.88-2.73          100k
 Gastric cancer85                  2.5                 1.74-3.85          900k                 esophageal acid sensitivity, and significantly
 Pancreatic cancer84               3.52                0.36-34.49         10k                  improved symptoms in a 10 patient randomized,
 Cardiovascular                                                                                placebo controlled, crossover, double blind acute
 Cardiovascular events86           1.25                1.11-1.42          400k                 study92 and in a placebo controlled randomized
 Infections                                                                                    trial of 252 patients with pH impedance defined
 C difficile87                     1.99                1.73-2.30          400k                 hypersensitivity (67% v 23%).108 109 However, in
 Recurrent C difficile88           1.73                1.39-2.15          8k
                                                                                               an 83 patient randomized, placebo controlled
 Enteric infections89              4.28                3.01-6.08          —
 Pneumonia90                       1.43                1.30-1.57          7.6m
                                                                                               trial testing the efficacy of a low dose tricyclic
 SIBO*91                           1.71                1.20-2.43          7k                   antidepressant (imipramine) for treating esophageal
 Kidney related                                                                                hypersensitivity and functional heartburn, the
 Acute interstitial nephritis92    3.76                2.36-5.99          600k                 response rates (judged by 50% reduction in GERD
 Acute kidney injury92             1.61                1.16-2.22          2.4m                 symptoms) were 37.2% and 37.5% for imipramine
 Chronic kidney disease93          1.32                1.19-1.46          800k                 and placebo respectively, with no observed difference
 End stage renal disease94         1.88                1.71-2.07          500k                 between patients with hypersensitivity and those
 Neurological
                                                                                               with functional heartburn.110 Imipramine treatment
 Alzheimer’s95                     0.96                0.83-1.09          400k
 Dementia95                        1.23                0.90-1.67          100k
                                                                                               was, however, associated with improved quality of
 Miscellaneous                                                                                 life as assessed by SF-36 score, offering some support
 Risk of fall96                    1.27                1.07-1.50          400k                 to its use.
 Fundic gland polyps97             2.46                1.42-4.27          40k
 Gastric mucosal atrophy98         1.55                1.00-2.41          3k                   Barrett’s esophagus
 Hypomagnesemia99                  1.44                1.13-1.76          100k                 Retrospective case-control studies report conflicting
 Microscopic colitis100            2.68                1.73-4.17          0.4k
                                                                                               results as to whether or not medical treatment prevents
OR=odds ratio; HR=hazard ratio; RR=risk ratio.
k=103; m=106.                                                                                  progression of Barrett’s epithelium to EAC.111 112
*Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.                                                        The Aspirin and Esomeprazole Chemoprevention
                                                                                               in Barrett’s metaplasia trial (AspECT) was a large
                                         In theory, drugs that augment esophageal              randomized controlled trial intended to clarify the
                                       motility or gastric emptying can be beneficial in       issue. Some 2557 non-dysplastic Barrett’s patients at
                                       GERD by reducing the occurrence of reflux and/or        84 centers in the UK were randomized to standard or
                                       enhancing the process of esophageal acid clearance.     high dose esomeprazole with or without aspirin (four
                                       Prucalopride and mosapride are 5-HT4 agonists           groups) and followed for at least eight years. The
                                       commercialized as prokinetics with potentially          primary composite endpoint was time to all cause
                                       beneficial physiological effects for GERD when          mortality, EAC, or high grade dysplasia. The high
                                       tested in normal volunteers. However, neither           dose PPI and aspirin group was significantly more
                                       was shown to be beneficial as add-on therapy to         likely to achieve the composite endpoint, but the
                                       PPIs either in a double blind, placebo controlled,      effect was driven mainly by improved overall survival
                                       randomized, crossover study of 21 healthy               rather than reduced progression of Barrett’s.113
                                       volunteers (prucalopride) or in a randomized trial of   Hence, this remains an open question, with experts
                                       116 esophagitis patients (mosapride).104 105            differing on their interpretation of these data.
                                         The prokinetic most widely used for GERD is              A major advance in the management of Barrett’s
                                       metoclopramide, an antidopaminergic drug that           pertains to patients with high grade dysplasia and
                                       also has 5-HT3 antagonist, 5-HT4 agonist, and           early cancers. Whereas these patients would formerly
                                       cholinomimetic properties.106 However, no high          be treated with esophagectomy, the current standard
                                       quality data support the use of metoclopramide as       of practice is complete endoscopic ablation of the
                                       monotherapy or adjunctive therapy in any GERD           Barrett’s segment with endoscopic resection of visible
                                       syndrome. Furthermore, the drug has the potential for   lesions followed by high dose acid suppression and,
                                       substantial central nervous system toxicity (tremor,    if necessary, fundoplication.114 115 The dominant
                                       Parkinsonism, depression, tardive dyskinesia), and      ablation method used is radiofrequency energy as

the bmj | BMJ 2020;371:m3786 | doi: 10.1136/bmj.m3786                                                                                               9
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

              reported in a randomized controlled trial involving      fitted around the LES laparoscopically. The beads

                                                                                                                                     BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
              127 patients with dysplastic Barrett’s. In that trial,   separate when the LES opens during peristalsis and
              the ablation group had better Barrett’s eradication      their magnetic attraction then augments sphincter
              and developed fewer cancers compared with the            closure. In an uncontrolled trial reporting on 100
              sham treated group (77.4% v 2.3%, P3 cm hiatal hernia compared TIF and placebo
              them to either laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication        with sham surgery and 40-80 mg omeprazole.125
              or 20-40 mg esomeprazole.116 Estimated remission         After six months of treatment, a larger proportion
              rates at 5 years, defined as not needing a PPI           of TIF patients achieved the primary endpoint of
              in the surgical group or adequately controlled           elimination of troublesome regurgitation (67% v
              symptoms in the PPI group, were 92% with PPIs            45% for PPI, P3 cm hiatal hernias, or morbid
              encountered 79% screening failures, 67% of those         obesity.
              treated improved with fundoplication compared               All surgical and procedural trials have specifically
              with 28% with active medical management and 12%          excluded patients with morbid obesity leaving open
              with control medical management (P
STATE OF THE ART REVIEW

                               through troublesome symptoms and/or injury.
                                                                                                RESEARCH QUESTIONS

                                                                                                                                                                          BMJ: first published as 10.1136/bmj.m3786 on 23 November 2020. Downloaded from http://www.bmj.com/ on 7 January 2021 by guest. Protected by copyright.
                               GERD is common throughout the world with its
                               epidemiology largely linked to the Western lifestyle             • How to better define the reflux contribution to myriad
                               and obesity. Because of its prevalence and chronicity,             putative laryngopharyngeal reflux syndromes?
                               GERD is a huge economic burden. However, apart                   • How to better identify and treat visceral
                               from the roughly fivefold risk of developing EAC,                  hypersensitivity as a determinant of reflux
                               mortality related to GERD is very rare. The principles             syndromes?
                               of management are both to provide symptomatic                    • What are effective early detection/prevention
                               relief and to minimize potential health risks through              strategies for esophageal adenocarcinoma?
                               some combination of lifestyle modifications,
                               diagnostic testing, pharmaceuticals to suppress
                               gastric acid secretion, and surgery. However,                    HOW PATIENTS WERE INVOLVED IN THE CREATION
                               management needs to be personalized to the specific              OF THIS ARTICLE
                               GERD phenotype recognizing that each has distinct                No patients were directly involved in the creation of this
                               pathophysiological features. Management principles               article.
                               are shown in the summary (box 1).

                                                                                            Contributors: Both authors contributed equally to the conception,
 Box 1: Summary of GERD management                                                          analysis, interpretation of data, drafting, revising, and final proofing of
                                                                                            the work. PJK is the guarantor of the work.
 Diagnosis                                                                                  Funding: PJK was supported by P01 DK092217 (PI: John E
 Symptom assessment                                                                         Pandolfino) from the US Public Health Service.
 • With typical heartburn and/or regurgitation, GERD is confirmed by an expected            Competing interests: The BMJ has judged that there are no
   response to treatment                                                                    disqualifying financial ties to commercial companies. The authors
                                                                                            declare the following other interests: PJK has advised Ironwood on
 Endoscopy                                                                                  drug development for GERD, and Bayer on drug development to treat
 • The primary test in the evaluation of suspected GERD syndromes                           chronic cough, and received grants from the US National Institute
                                                                                            of Health and Ironwood Pharmaceuticals outside the scope of this
   ○○Alarm symptoms: (dysphagia, bleeding, vomiting, or unintentional weight loss)          article. DAK is a member of the governing board for the American
   ○○Atypical symptoms                                                                      Gastroenterological Association (no relation to this article), undertook
   ○○Unsatisfactory response to empiric PPI therapy                                         research (unpaid) for Shire and Celgene, and gave an academic
                                                                                            lecture on eosinophilic esophagitis to Celgene.
   ○○Barrett’s/EAC risk—regional guidelines vary regarding the specific indications for
     screening and surveillance                                                             Further details of The BMJ policy on financial interests are here:
                                                                                            https://www.bmj.com/about-bmj/resources-authors/forms-policies-
   ○○Evaluate for disorders, particularly eosinophilic esophagitis, infectious              and-checklists/declaration-competing-interests
     esophagitis                                                                            Provenance and peer review: commissioned; externally peer
 Prolonged ambulatory esophageal reflux monitoring                                          reviewed.
 • Suspected GERD syndrome without esophagitis (or only Los Angeles grade A)
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