Barrett's Oesophagus Surveillance Versus Endoscopy at Need Study (BOSS): A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Old O., Jankowski J., Attwood S., Stokes C., Kendall C., Rasdell C., Zimmermann A., Massa MS., Love S., Sanders S., Deidda M., Briggs A., Hapeshi J., Foy C., Moayyedi P., Barr H., BOSS Trial Team .

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a precursor lesion for esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Surveillance endoscopy aims to detect early malignant progression; although widely practiced, it has not previously been tested in a randomized trial. METHODS: BOSS (Barrett's Oesophagus Surveillance Versus Endoscopy at Need Study) was a randomized controlled trial at 109 centers in the United Kingdom. Patients with BE were randomized to 2-yearly surveillance endoscopy or "at-need" endoscopy, offered for symptoms only. Follow-up was a minimum of 10 years. The primary outcome was overall survival in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary outcomes included cancer-specific survival, time to diagnosis of EAC, stage of EAC at diagnosis, frequency of endoscopy, and serious adverse events related to interventions. RESULTS: There were 3453 patients recruited; 1733 patients were randomized to surveillance and 1719 to at-need endoscopy. Median follow-up time was 12.8 years for the primary outcome. There was no evidence of a difference in overall survival between the surveillance arm (333 deaths among 1733 patients) and the at-need arm (356 deaths among 1719 patients; hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% CI, 0.82-1.10; stratified log-rank P = .503). There was no evidence of a difference for surveillance vs at-need endoscopy in cancer-specific survival (108 vs 106 deaths from any cancer; hazard ratio, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.77-1.33; P = .926), time to diagnosis of EAC (40 vs 31 patients had a diagnosis of EAC; hazard ratio, 1.32; 95% CI, 0.82-2.11; P = .254), or cancer stage at diagnosis. Eight surveillance patients (0.46%) and 7 at-need patients (0.41%) reported serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: Surveillance did not improve overall survival or cancer-specific survival. At-need endoscopy may be a safe alternative for low-risk patients. (ClinicalTrials.gov, Number: NCT00987857.).

DOI

10.1053/j.gastro.2025.03.021

Type

Journal article

Publication Date

2025-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Volume

169

Pages

1233 - 1243.e8

Keywords

Barrett's Esophagus, Endoscopy, Esophageal Adenocarcinoma, Randomized Controlled Trial, Surveillance, Humans, Barrett Esophagus, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Esophageal Neoplasms, Aged, Adenocarcinoma, Esophagoscopy, United Kingdom, Disease Progression, Early Detection of Cancer, Time Factors, Precancerous Conditions, Neoplasm Staging

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