title: Effective treatment of chronic radiation proctitis using radiofrequency ablation.
abstract: Endoscopic argon plasma coagulation and bipolar electrocautery are currently preferred treatments for chronic radiation proctitis, but ulcerations and strictures frequently occur. Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) has been successful for mucosal ablation in the esophagus. Here we report the efficacy of RFA with the BarRx Halo(90) system in three patients with bleeding from chronic radiation proctitis. In all cases, the procedure was well tolerated and hemostasis was achieved after 1 or 2 RFA sessions. Re-epithelialization of squamous mucosa was observed over areas of prior hemorrhage. No stricturing or ulceration was seen on follow-up up to 19 months after RFA treatment. Real-time endoscopic optical coherence tomography (EOCT) visualized epithelialization and subsurface tissue microvasculature pre- and post-treatment, demonstrating its potential for follow-up assessment of endoscopic therapies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Research Laboratory of Electronics Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Desmond C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Laren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Tsung-Han
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Marisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Figueiredo
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schmitt
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mashimo