Is persistent intestinal metaplasia a prognostic factor after definitive chemoradiation in patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma?

Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is defined as the replacement of the normal esophageal squamous epithelium with columnar epithelium. This process is also known as intestinal metaplasia and is a relatively common disease with a reported incidence ranging from 1.6% to 6.8% (1-3). The true incidence of BE may be even higher as studies limited to symptomatic patients will not demonstrate the true prevalence of the disease.