Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD): An Overview of Current Minimal-Invasive Treatment Potentials| Biomed Grid

GERD represents one of the most prevalent medical conditions in human society. Pharmaceutical and invasive surgical treatments of reflux are readily available with good results in most cases. However, medications don't cure GERD but rather decrease GERD symptoms, and may cause significant side effects with chronic use, while surgery has shown mixed results and is invasive and costly. These shortcomings have resulted in the development of various endo-luminal outpatient treatments for GERD as a more appealing alternative treatment option for gastroenterologists and their patients. There remains a need for a safe and effective permanent injectable soft tissue bulking agent to complement the armamentarium of the GERD specialist and enables him to potentially cure GERD endoscopically. Collagen/PMMA implant (G125) has shown the most promising characteristics as an endoscopic' bulking agent' due to its proven tissue biocompatibility and persistence and seems to meet most characteristics of an ‘ideal' bulking agent.