IMAGE-ENHANCED ENDOSCOPY TO SCREEN UPPER GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS USING ULTRATHIN ENDOSCOPE

Abstract

Image-enhanced endoscopy using ultrathin endoscopes has been performed for upper gastrointestinal lesions since the early 2000s. Recent improvements in endoscopes, such as standard endoscopes, have led to the production of high-resolution images. Narrow-band and blue laser (light) imaging have been widely used to screen for esophageal cancers and aid in the diagnosis of laryngeal and pharyngeal cancers. For screening gastric cancers, flexible spectral image color enhancement provides images with high color contrast between the gastric cancer and surrounding mucosa without magnification. The advent of linked color imaging (LCI) has accelerated diagnoses with high color contrast. LCI produces different colors among the various histological features of the gastric mucosa and enables the diagnosis of inflammatory and neoplastic lesions, the characteristics of which cannot be obtained with other image-enhanced endoscopies. Recently, the texture and brightness and color enhancement has been evaluated for gastrointestinal lesions. The screening of upper gastroenterological lesions has shifted evolutionarily from white light images to enhanced images. Screening of early upper gastrointestinal cancers using ultrathin endoscopy will progress eventually with the assistance of artificial intelligence.