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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 21, 2016; 22(3): 1246-1259
Published online Jan 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i3.1246
Advanced gastrointestinal endoscopic imaging for inflammatory bowel diseases
Gian Eugenio Tontini, Timo Rath, Helmut Neumann
Gian Eugenio Tontini, Gastroenterology and Digestive Endoscopy Unit, IRCCS Policlinico San Donato, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy
Timo Rath, Helmut Neumann, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
Author contributions: Tontini GE designed the study, provided a critical revision oft he manuscript for important intellectual content, and was involved in editing the manuscript; Rath T performed data analysis and wrote the manuscript; Neumann H co-ordinated the study, provided a critical revision of t he manuscript for important intellectual content and was the study supervisor.
Conflict-of-interest statement: None of the authors has any conflicts of interest related to this article/work to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Helmut Neumann, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine 1, Division of Gastroenterology, University Hospital Erlangen, FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg, Ulmenweg 18, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. helmut.neumann@uk-erlangen.de
Telephone: +49-9131-8535204 Fax: +49-9131-8535209
Received: August 11, 2015
Peer-review started: August 12, 2015
First decision: September 29, 2015
Revised: October 15, 2015
Accepted: November 9, 2015
Article in press: November 9, 2015
Published online: January 21, 2016
Abstract

Gastrointestinal luminal endoscopy is of paramount importance for diagnosis, monitoring and dysplasia surveillance in patients with both, Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Moreover, with the recent recognition that mucosal healing is directly linked to the clinical outcome of patients with inflammatory bowel disorders, a growing demand exists for the precise, timely and detailed endoscopic assessment of superficial mucosal layer. Further, the novel field of molecular imaging has tremendously expanded the clinical utility and applications of modern endoscopy, now encompassing not only diagnosis, surveillance, and treatment but also the prediction of individual therapeutic responses. Within this review, we describe how novel endoscopic approaches and advanced endoscopic imaging methods such as high definition and high magnification endoscopy, dye-based and dye-less chromoendoscopy, confocal laser endomicroscopy, endocytoscopy and molecular imaging now allow for the precise and ultrastructural assessment of mucosal inflammation and describe the potential of these techniques for dysplasia detection.

Keywords: Ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, Advanced endoscopic imaging, Chromoendoscopy, Mucosal healing, Colitis associated cancer, Confocal laser endomicroscopy, Endocytoscopy, Molecular imaging

Core tip: Gastrointestinal luminal endoscopy is of paramount importance for diagnosis, monitoring and dysplasia surveillance in patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Within this review, we describe how novel endoscopic approaches and advanced endoscopic imaging methods such as high definition imaging, high magnification endoscopy, dye-based and dye-less chromoendoscopy, confocal laser endomicroscopy, endocytoscopy and molecular imaging now allow for the accurate and highly resolved assessment of mucosal inflammation on the cellular level and describe the potential of these techniques for dysplasia detection.