Use of endocytoscopy for identification of sessile serrated adenoma/polyps and hyperplastic polyps by quantitative image analysis of the luminal areas

Background and study aims Recent studies that used magnifying chromoendoscopy and endocytoscopy (EC) to investigate endoscopic features of sessile serrated adenoma/polyps (SSA/Ps) suggested that a dilated crypt opening was an important indicator of SSA/Ps. However, no studies to date have measured the actual extent of dilatation. Hence, we investigated retrospectively the luminal areas using EC to determine a cutoff value for differentiating SSA/Ps from hyperplastic polyps (HPs). Patients and methods A total of 101 lesions, including 25 SSA/Ps, 66 HPs, and 10 normal mucosal samples, assessed by an integrated-type EC were collected. For each lesion, 1 image that showed the widest lumen was selected and the average area of the contiguous 3 lumens were calculated. The cutoff value differentiating SSAPs from HPs was determined by receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. Results The mean luminal areas of SSA/Ps and HPs were 4152 μm2 and 2117 μm2, respectively. ROC analysis found that a luminal area cutoff of 3068 μm2 had a sensitivity of 80.0 %, a specificity of 77.3 %, an accuracy of 78.0 %, and an area under the ROC curve of 0.865. Furthermore, a cutoff of ≥ 556 μm2 was found to accurately distinguish between HPs and normal mucosa (sensitivity 98.5 %, specificity 100 %, accuracy 98.7 %, and AUC 0.998). Conclusions EC analysis of the luminal area is useful for differentiating between SSAPs and HPs. This approach could be adapted for computer-aided diagnosis of SSA/P.