IMAGE-ENHANCED ENDOSCOPY USING LASER LIGHT SOURCES FOR DIAGNOSIS OF EARLY GASTRIC CANCER

Abstract

The LASEREO system was developed as a novel endoscopic system with a light source consisting of two kinds of lasers with wavelengths of 410 and 450 nm. The combination of two lasers and fluorescent light enables three kinds of image-enhanced endoscopy as follows: blue laser imaging (BLI), BLI-bright that allows a brighter view with narrow-band light observation, and linked color imaging (LCI). We report that magnifying BLI can be used to diagnose early gastric cancer (EGC) more accurately than white-light imaging (WLI) according to the vessel-plus-surface classification system and the diagnostic effectiveness of magnifying blue laser imaging (M-BLI) is similar to that of magnifying narrow-band imaging (M-NBI). In addition, we report that BLI-bright improves the real-time EGC detection rate compared with WLI. LCI enables visualization of red lesions that appear redder and whitish lesions that appear whiter. LCI visualizes gastric intestinal metaplasia as lavender color and diffuse redness as crimson color. Therefore, LCI enables evaluation of the risk of gastric cancer easily and objectively. Moreover, LCI is expected to improve EGC detection by identifying EGC more clearly.