There's no downside to it."
The use of narrow-band imaging (NBI) has grown in recent years to
help demarcate the borders of an adenoma, ensuring the physician
removes it in its entirety during extraction. NBI filters the wavelength
of light to provide better views in areas with high vascular supply,
which could indicate an adenoma. When the scope's white light is fil-
tered down to specific color components, the resulting illumination
penetrates the mucosa and submucosa to effectively highlight vascu-
lature and lesion boundaries.
"Narrow-band imaging helps us distinguish between neoplastic and
innocuous polyps," says Stephen Lloyd, MD, PhD, medical director of
the Carolina Colonoscopy Center in Columbia, S.C.
Extended viewing field
High-definition resolution and image enhancement technology promise
in-depth detail, but scopes that let you see a larger expanse of the colon
could let physicians spot more polyps. "Flexible Gastro-intestinal
Endoscopy — Clinical Challenges and Technical Achievements," a
report in the January 2017 issue of Computational and Structural
Biotechnology Journal, highlights a few of the scopes that promise an
extended viewing field.
• FUSE. EndoChoice's Full Spectrum Endoscopy (FUSE)
colonoscopy platform uses a standard colonoscope with 2 additional
cameras and light sources built into the left and right side of the distal
end. The combination of 3 videos simultaneously shown on the moni-
tor covers a total viewing field of 330°. In a clinical trial, FUSE
colonoscopy detected a significantly higher number of adenomas in
direct comparison to a standard colonoscopy.
• EWAVE. Olympus has developed a prototype colonoscope with an
extra-wide angle of view (144° to 232°). A standard forward viewing
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