ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the diagnostic value of blue light imaging-bright (BLI-bright) and linked color imaging (LCI) for early esophageal cancer (EEC).Methods:Data of 63 consecutive patients with EEC who underwent gastroscopy under BLI-bright, LCI and white-light imaging (WLI) and endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) from May 2018 to August 2020 at Fuding Hospital Affiliated to Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were analyzed retrospectively in the cohort study. Subjective visibility analysis was performed by 6 endoscopists who were divided into 2 groups (expert group and trainee group) with 3 endoscopists in each group. The main observation index was the visibility score (ranking score, RS). The objective color difference (Δ E) between lesions of EEC and surrounding mucosa under 3 modes were analyzed by using the L *a *b * color space. Results:The overall RS of 6 endoscopists under WLI mode (2.57±0.81) was significantly lower than that under LCI (3.25±0.67) ( t=9.71, P<0.001) and BLI-bright (3.18±0.67) ( t=9.31, P<0.001). In the expert group, the RS of WLI (2.71±0.80) was significantly lower than that of LCI (3.33±0.66) ( t=7.16, P<0.001) and BLI-bright (3.42±0.62) ( t=8.09, P<0.001). In the trainee group, the RS of WLI (2.40±0.90) was also significantly lower than that of LCI (3.15±0.83) ( t=9.62, P<0.001) and BLI-bright (2.89±0.92) ( t=5.69, P<0.001), and the RS of LCI was higher than that of BLI-bright ( t=4.07, P<0.001). The Δ E between lesions of EEC and surrounding mucosa under WLI (11.52±3.40) was significantly lower than that under LCI (16.64±4.70) ( t=7.10, P<0.001) and BLI-bright (15.72±3.84) ( t=7.88, P<0.001). Conclusion:BLI-bright and LCI can effectively improve EEC visibility and color difference between EEC and surrounding mucosa. Furthermore, LCI is more conducive to the detection of EEC for the trainees.