Background & Objective : Swallowing foreign bodies and their impaction in esophagus is common among children and proper diagnosis and treatment of this problem will decrease its complications. The objective of this study was to evaluate esophageal foreign bodies.

  Methods : 62 patients with complaining about foreign body ingestion were studied and factors such as age, sex, the kind of foreign body, the treatment done, its complications and the length of hospitalization were considered.

  Results : Of sixty- two patients, 30 were male and 32 were female. Coin was the most common foreign body in children (24 cases) while in adults bone (chicken or fish) was more common (19 cases). In the patients most of the foreign bodies were impacted in the upper esophagus at the cricopharengeal junction. In all patients except one case (in which endoscopic forceps was used to remove the foreign body) esophagoscopy was performed under general anesthesia to remove the impacted foreign bodies. Complication was seen in one case as bleeding.

 Conclusions: Since the esophageal foreign body is prevalent among children it is necessary to prevent it through offering adequate to parents.

  Background & Objectives: Recent studies in Ardabil province indicated that upper GI cancer is the most common kind of cancer in this province. Due to the lack of any study concerning the survival rate of the patients in this province, the present research set out to evaluate the effect of demographic features of GI cancers, risk factors, histopathology type, the site of tumor and treatment on the survival rate of these patients.

  Methods: In this descriptive-analytical and prospective study, we followed up 420 upper GI cancer cases (141 esophagus cancers and 279 stomach cancers) who were initially diagnosed in the only subspeciality GI clinic of Ardabil province during four years from 2000 to 2003.

  Results: The information related to 299 patients was recorded. The dates of death of 55 cases were found referring to the provincial death registration program while the addreses of 67 cases were not found. The 1-4-year survival rates in the patients with upper GI cancer in Ardabil province were 25.9%, 11.1%, 4.5% and 1.8% respectively. In this study men had a lower survival rate than women and patients with esophagus cancer had a longer survival rate. In the patients with stomach cancer "Signet ring cell type" histopathology had the lowest survival rate. The patients who had undergone surgery survived longer than other patients with no resectional surgery treatment. Histopathology grading, age at first diagnosis, positive familial history of GI cancer, as well as cigarette, alcohol and opium consumption had no effect on survival rate of these patients.

  Conclusion: Overall survival rate of our patients is very low this condition might be related to late diagnosis and less treatment facilities in Ardabil province.

 Background & Objectives:�Barrett’s esophagus is the most severe complication of gastroesophageal reflux which may lead to Adenocarcinoma of the esophagus. The epidemiologic aspects of this condition is not completed studied in Iran. The aim of this study is to appraise short segment Barrett’s esophagus in patients which are evaluated due to their reflux related symptoms in a university endoscopy center.

 Methods:�During this cross-sectional study, short segment Barrett’s esophagus was investigated in 100 consequent patients with reflux symptoms (heart burn and/or acid regurgitation) for at least one year. After obtaining their consent for upper endoscope, they were studied interms of short barrett esophagus Four biopsies from esophageal side of gastroesophageal junction for histologic evaluation, and one from antrum for rapid urease test used for Helicobacter pylori were obtained. Barrett’s esophagus was confirmed by appearance of intestinal metaplasia by two pathologists.

  Results: Among 100 eligible subjects, 39 patients were male and 61 were female with a mean (±SD) age of 42.31±15.12 years. Prevalence of short segment Barrett’s esophagus in this study was 8%. Barrett’s esophagus was not related to gender, symptoms and their severity but was significantly more frequent in patients experienced their symptoms for more than 5 years. Barrett’s esophagus was not related to the presence of esophagitis. Infection with Helicobacter pylori was related to less esophagitis but was not related to presence of Barrett’s esophagus.

 Conclusion:�According to the high prevalence of Barrett’s esophagus in subjects with reflux related symptoms in our region, upper gastroesophageal endoscopic evaluation of patients with symptoms more than 5 years is recommended even before age 40. Patients may benefit from Concentration the attention of the endoscopist for taking biopsies.