ONLY LINKED COLOR IMAGING INCREASES COLOR CONTRAST BETWEEN COLON POLYPS AND SURROUNDING MUCOSA

Aims:

Evaluation of color difference between colon adenoma and surrounding mucosa as a potential explanation of higher detection rate.

HD-white light endoscopy (WLE) is the gold standard in the detection of colon adenoma. Virtual chromoendoscopy cannot improve adenoma detection. Recently linked color imaging (LCI) was developed which is combining special light and a post processing in one imaging modality. First study results show a better visibility and a higher adenoma detection rate using LCI.

Methods:

Prospective acquisition of images from adenoma in the three light modes WLE, Blue Light Imaging (BLI) and LCI.

Transformation of the images into L*a*b* color space. Measurement of color at areas of 31 × 31 pixels, two inside the polyp and 2 in the surrounding mucosa each. Calculation of the color difference according to the Delta E (Lab) Method.

We used paired t-test for statistical analysis.

Results:

In total 90 polyps were evaluated. Delta-E in WLE was lowest (12.34 ± 6.73). The highest Delta-E value was calculated for LCI (16.83 ± 10.85). The Delta-E using BLI was 14.38 ± 11.42. The difference between LIC vs. BLI and BLI vs. WLE was not significant. He difference between WLE and LCI was highly significant (p = 0.002).

Conclusions:

Only linked color imaging leads to a significant increase of the color contrast of colon adenoma. This is a useful explanation for the reported increased adenoma detection rate using LCI.