New London, Conn.
"Doctors are able to
visualize tissue bet-
ter, therefore leading
to a higher percent-
age of polyp discov-
eries."
As good as HD
imaging is, it shows
only what's on the
surface of the colon.
The use of electronic
chromoendoscopy
technologies, howev-
er, enables a view that the human eye cannot naturally see. These
imaging options leverage the response of different kinds of tissue to
different kinds of light in order to deliver a contrast-enhanced view of
the mucosal surface and the blood vessels beneath it — as well as sub-
tle changes in tissue and vascular patterns that may indicate pre-can-
cerous polyps — in real time, without the use of dye, at the touch of a
button.
"A change in the mucosal lining is a harbinger for malignant design,"
says Alexander Rosemurgy, MD, director of the Southeastern Center
for Digestive Disorders at Florida Hospital Tampa. "If we send down a
particular band of light, a certain wavelength, like green or blue light,
we get a different penetration of tissue than with white light. We see
not just the surface, but blood vessels are more visible, the structure
is more defined."
Electronic chromoendoscopy "makes it more possible to identify
and demarcate tissue," says Dr. Rosemurgy. "Everything's better.
9 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A U G U S T 2 0 1 7
"Narrow-band imaging helps
us distinguish between neoplastic
and innocuous polyps."
— Stephen Lloyd, MD, PhD
Olympus
