The benefits of targeted endoscopic biopsy performed using the autofluorescence based diagnostic technique in 67 cases of diagnostically difficult gastrointestinal tumors.

INTRODUCTION: The search for new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is an essential task in contemporary oncology. The purpose of our study was the evaluation of the practical usefulness of autofluorescence endoscopy (AFE) using the Onco-LIFE system, compared with the use of white light endoscopy (WLE), and the estimation of the correlation between the histopathological evaluation with the degree of lesions' Numerical Color Value (NCV index) and the method's sensitivity and specificity valuation.

MATERIAL: 67 patients were analyzed at the Center for Laser Diagnostics and Therapy. All 67 had previously had a tumor of the gastrointestinal tract which appeared malignant, but without histopathological confirmation. We measured NCV, estimated the correlation of the clinical diagnosis based on histopathological evaluation with the degree of NCV index from gastrointestinal lesions, and calculated the sensitivity and specificity of this method.

RESULTS: In the group of 67 patients, we found 44 cases of primary or secondary cancers and 7 cases of non-epithelial malignancies. In this group (51 patients) we identified 13 colorectal cancers and 38 upper gastrointestinal cancers. Based on the NCV index at NCV > 1.0, we can show that the sensitivity for malignant neoplastic lesions was 100% and the specificity was 73%, while for NCV > 1.5, the sensitivity for malignant neoplastic lesions was 86% and the specificity 100%.

CONCLUSION: AFE using the Onco-LIFE system is a helpful tool to perform targeted biopsies at the outset. A significant correlation was found between lesions' NCV index and the grade of dysplasia or tumor malignancy. AFE sensitivity and specificity is higher than WLE. Further studies are needed, especially performed by expert endoscopists.