Colon Cancer Screening with Image-Enhanced Endoscopy

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of cancer mortality worldwide, and this has led to an increased use of screening colonoscopy. This screening has resulted in long-term risk reduction in asymptomatic individuals. However, endoscopists may fail to detect advanced adenomas or colon cancer during screening. The reasons that adenomas or cancers are missed are thought to be associated with the location of the lesions or the skills of the endoscopist. To address the limitations of white light endoscopy (WLE) for adenoma detection, advanced endoscopic images have recently been used. Image-enhanced endoscopies (IEEs), including the use of topical dyes, optical filtering, and ultramagnification, allow for gastrointestinal lesion analysis. Many studies have compared the adenoma detection rate (ADR) obtained by using WLE and IEE, but with different results. IEE can be used to help the endoscopist to improve their ADR in screening colonoscopy. This review examines the possible roles of image-enhanced colonoscopy in CRC screening.