Varicoid adenocarcinoma of the esophagus: case report.

Varicoid swellings resemble a varix, or an enlarged and convoluted vessel. Varicoid or superficial spreading carcinoma of the esophagus is a rare condition demonstrating an appearance similar to esophageal varices and as such can be misdiagnosed. In the majority of cases they tend to be squamous cell carcinomas.

A test-and-treat policy does not save endoscopy workload in a non-referral hospital.

Aim: To assess the impact that a test-and-treat policy with open-access urea breath testing (UBT) has had on the referral rates for endoscopy in a district hospital. Additionally, we examined for any change in the proportion of serious pathology detected endoscopically after adopting the policy.

Methods: Analysis of data on all open-access endoscopy referrals in a 12-month period before (October 1994 to September 1995) and 2 years after (October 1997 to September 1998) the introduction of the UBT service.