H Kanzaki, Y Kawahara, H Okada - Digestion, 2020

Background: Image enhanced endoscopy (IEE) contributes to the early detection of gastrointestinal cancer. IEE enhances the color between a lesion and the background mucosa. Linked color imaging (LCI), a novel form of IEE, is a unique system for enhancing color and some studies have demonstrated the efficacy of LCI in the diagnosis of early gastric cancer (EGC) based on the color difference between cancer and the background mucosa. However, the effect may increase the area in which cancer is suspected and lead to an increase in false-positive results.

Summary: We conducted a retrospective study of linked color images of differentiated EGC and suspicious mucosal areas to compare the colors between each lesion. Images of 38 EGCs and 23 suspicious areas were analyzed. The mean color values of EGC were as follows; L*(lightness), 61.7; a*(green to red), 41.2; and b*(blue to yellow), 27.1. Those of suspicious mucosal areas were as follows; L*, 56.1; a*, 44.2; and b*, 21.3. EGC had significantly higher L*, b* values and lower a* values in comparison to suspicious mucosal areas. EGC and suspicious mucosal areas had significantly higher a* values in comparison to the background mucosa.