Advanced diagnostic endoscopy in the lower gastrointestinal tract: A review of JGES core sessions

Adaptive denoising hyperspectral data for visualization enhancement of intraoperative tissue

The vast amount of reflectance information obtained from the hyperspectral imaging devices offers great opportunities for investigating the function and structure of human tissue. However, the captured hyperspectral data often contain various noises due to the intrinsic imperfection of associated electrical and optical imaging components. This work proposed an automatic total variation algorithm to suppress the noises while preserving the details of the spectral and spatial information. The variation of spectral images at neighboring bands was calculated for regulating the total variation of hyperspectral data so that the spectral-dependent noises can be treated differentially across all bands. Experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method could effectively remove the spectral noises, especially near the ends of those extreme bands. The noise suppressed hyperspectral data could then be used for the visualization enhancement on pathophysiological conditions of intraoperative observed anatomies such as the vessels of brain tissues.

Use of image-enhanced endoscopy in the characterization of colorectal polyps: Still some ways to go

BACKGROUND/AIM

Instrument-based image-enhanced endoscopy (IEE) is of benefit in detecting and characterizing lesions during colonoscopy. We aimed to study the ability of community-based gastroenterologists to differentiate between neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions using IEE modalities and to identify predictors of correct classification and the confidence of the optical diagnosis made.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

An electronic survey was sent to practicing gastroenterologists using electronic tablets during a gastroenterology meeting. Demographic and professional information was gathered and endoscopic images of various colonic lesions were shown and they were requested to classify the images based in white light, flexible spectral imaging color enhancement (FICE), iScan, and narrow band imaging (NBI).

RESULTS:

Overall, 71 gastroenterologists responded to the survey, 76% were males and the majority were aged between 36 and 45 years (44%). Most of the respondents practiced both hepatology and gastroenterology (56%) and most of them had never received any training on IEE (66%). Correct identification of lesions using regular white light endoscopy was low (range 28%-84%). None of the IEE modalities increased the percentage of correct diagnoses apart from one NBI image where it increased from 28% (95%CI: 17%-38%) to 56% (95%CI: 44%-68%) (P < 0.01). Those who identified themselves as practicing mainly luminal gastroenterology were more confident 72% (95%CI: 60%-84%) compared with hepatologists 36% (95%CI: 25%-48%), or those who practiced both 48% (95%CI: 39%-56%) despite no difference in the percentage in correct answers.

CONCLUSION:

There remain areas of improvement in the performance of endoscopists in practice and would recommend more dedicated training programs, which could make use of asynchronous technological platforms.