LAY SUMMARY A type of gullet cancer (oesophageal adenocarcinoma) has become the 5th commonest UK cause of cancer death. Unfortunately, by the time patients have symptoms, the cancer is often incurable. People with Barrett's oesophagus (change of gullet lining occurring in some with acid reflux) at risk of this cancer can have regular check-ups, involving examination through an endoscope (an instrument inserted by mouth, under mild sedation if required). A small proportion of people with Barrett's develop further changes (which might become cancer) in the gullet lining; if they do, it is important to remove the affected tissue before cancer develops, or when it is at an early stage. There are several ways of removing this tissue but the investigators do not know which is best. The standard treatment is surgery, but there is a small risk of dying from the operation, and patients often suffer complications affecting them for a year or more afterwards. Two endoscopic treatments do not involve surgery. Both involve removing visible abnormalities by a technique called endoscopic resection, followed by cauterising the remaining Barrett's gullet lining by 1 of 2 techniques. One is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, but it is expensive and less widely available than the second. No-one has compared these treatments with each other, nor with surgery, in randomised trials (the most reliable way of deciding which is best). Patient groups say they would prefer to avoid surgery if the alternative works, and have encouraged us to do trials. This feasibility study is a vital step towards two trials: (a) a trial to compare the two non-surgical techniques and (b) a trial comparing surgery with endoscopic treatment. It will help us find out whether it will be possible to enroll and retain enough patients by using several centres, and to identify/resolve any other potential barriers to recruitment and retention, including exploring viewpoints of patients and surgeons.
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Recruitment rate and retention
Timeframe: 12 months