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

Computer-Aided Image Enhanced Endoscopy Automated System to Boost Polyp and Adenoma Detection Accuracy

Colonoscopy is the gold standard to detect colon polyps prematurely. Early detection, characterization and resection of polyps decrease colon cancer incidence. Colon polyp missing rate remains high despite novel methods development. Narrowed-band imaging (NBI) is one of the image enhance techniques used to boost polyp detection and characterization, which uses special filters to enhance the contrast of the mucosa surface and vascular pattern of the polyp. However, the single-button-activated system is not convenient for a full-time colonoscopy operation. We selected three methods to simulate the NBI system: Color Transfer with Mean Shift (CTMS), Multi-scale Retinex with Color Restoration (MSRCR), and Gamma and Sigmoid Conversions (GSC). The results show that the classification accuracy using the original images is the lowest. All color transfer methods outperform the original images approach. Our results verified that the color transfer has a positive impact on the polyp identification and classification task. Combined analysis results of the mAP and the accuracy show an excellent performance of the MSRCR method.