Real-Time Characterizations of Diminutive Colorectal Polyps Using Narrow Band Imaging

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related death in the United States. Colonoscopy is the most commonly performed screening procedure and diminutive polyps (<5mm) are the most commonly found polyps during colonoscopy. Although these polyps have a very low risk of harboring malignancy, they are routinely removed to determine surveillance intervals.
Narrow Band Imaging is equipped on widely available colonoscopes and in expert hands can allow accurate real-time optical histologic diagnosis of colorectal polyps. If this practice can be applied widely, there is significant potential for cost savings.
This has led to a ‘characterize, resect and discard’ strategy where polyps determined to be hyperplastic (benign with no neoplastic potential) can be left in place and those determined to be adenomatous (have neoplastic potential) can be resected and discarded.
It is unclear if endoscopists without prior expertise or training in Narrow Band Imaging can achieve adequate diagnostic accuracy to put ‘characterize, resect and discard’ into wide practice.