Mamoru Tokunaga1, Tomoaki Matsumura1, Kentaro Ishikawa1, Tatsuya Kaneko1, Hirotaka Oura1, Tsubasa Ishikawa1, Ariki Nagashima1, Wataru Shiratori1, Kenichiro Okimoto1, Naoki Akizue1, Daisuke Maruoka1, Yuki Ohta1, Keiko Saito1, Tomoo Nakagawa1, Tetsuhiro Chiba1, Makoto Arai1,2, Jun Kato1, Naoya Kato1
Gastroenterol Res Pract. 2020 Sep 29;2020:9604345. doi: 10.1155/2020/9604345. eCollection 2020.
Background: The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of linked color imaging (LCI) in diagnosing Barrett’s esophagus (BE) and esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC).
Methods: A total of 112 and 12 consecutive patients with BE and EAC were analyzed. The visibility scores of BE and EAC ranging from 4 (excellent visibility) to 0 (not detectable) were evaluated by three trainees and three experts using white light imaging (WLI), LCI mode, and blue laser imaging bright (BLI-b) mode. In addition, L∗a∗b∗ color values and color differences (ΔE∗) were evaluated using the CIELAB color space system.
Results: The visibility score of the BE in LCI mode (2.94 ± 1.32) was significantly higher than those in WLI (2.46 ± 1.48) and BLI-b mode (2.35 ± 1.46) (p < 0.01). The color difference (ΔE∗) from the adjacent gastric mucosa in LCI mode (17.11 ± 8.53) was significantly higher than those in other modes (12.52 ± 9.37 in WLI and 11.96 ± 6.59 in BLI-b mode, p < 0.01). The visibility scores of EAC in LCI mode (2.56 ± 1.47) and BLI-b mode (2.51 ± 1.28) were significantly higher than that in WLI (1.64 ± 1.46) (p < 0.01). The color difference (ΔE∗) from the adjacent normal Barrett’s mucosa in LCI mode (19.96 ± 7.97) was significantly higher than that in WLI (12.95 ± 11.86) (p = 0.03).
Conclusion: The present findings suggest that LCI increases the visibility of BE and EAC and contributes to the improvement of the detection of these lesions.
1 Department of Gastroenterology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University Chiba, Japan
2 Department of Medical Oncology, Chiba University Chiba, Japan