Analysis of white-light imaging-based features predictive for determination of lesion depths of superficial flat esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a retrospective multicenter study from China

OBJECTIVES: Endoscopic diagnosis of invasion depth of superficial esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SESCC) by white-light imaging (WLI) modality remains difficult. This study aims to clarify WLI-based features which are predictive for invasion depth of SESCC. METHODS: A two-phase study was performed by enrolling 1288 patients with 1396 SESCC lesions. Endoscopic appearances, clinical characteristics and post-operative pathological outcomes were collected and reviewed. The association between lesion features and invasion depth were analyzed. A predictive nomogram was constructed for prediction of invasion depth. RESULTS: Among 1396 lesions in derivation and validation cohort, 1139 (81.6%), 194 (13.9%) and 63 (4.5%) lesions were diagnosed as lesions confined into the intraepithelium or the lamina propria mucosa (T1a-EP/LPM), lesions invading the muscularis mucosa (T1a-MM) or superficial submucosa (T1b-SM1) and tumor with moderate invasion into the submucosa or deeper submucosal invasion (≥ T1b-SM2), respectively. Lesion length > 2 cm (p < 0.001), wider circumferential extension (p < 0.001, 0.002 and 0.048 for > 3/4, 1/2–3/4 and 1/4–1/2 circumferential extension, respectively), surface unevenness (p < 0.001 for both type 0-IIa/0-IIc lesions and mixed type lesions), spontaneous bleeding (p < 0.001), granularity (p < 0.001) and nodules (p < 0.001) were identified as significant factors predictive for lesion depth. A nomogram based on these factors was constructed and the values of area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics curve were 0.89 and 0.90 in the internal and external patient cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides six WLI-based morphological features predicting for lesion depth of SESCC. Our findings will make endoscopic evaluation of invasion depth for SESCC more convenient by assessing these profiles. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40001-023-01153-z.