Background and study aims Linked color imaging (LCI) and blue laser imaging (BLI) are novel image-enhanced endoscopy technologies with strong, unique color enhancement. We investigated the efficacy of LCI and BLI-bright compared to conventional white light imaging (WLI) by measuring the color difference between early gastric cancer lesions and the surrounding mucosa. Patients and methods Images of early gastric cancer scheduled for endoscopic submucosal dissection were captured by LCI, BLI-bright, and WLI under the same conditions. Color values of the lesion and surrounding mucosa were defined as the average of the color value in each region of interest. Color differences between the lesion and surrounding mucosa (ΔE) were examined in each mode. The color value was assessed using the CIE L*a*b* color space (CIE: Commission Internationale d’Eclairage). Results We collected images of 43 lesions from 42 patients. Average ΔE values with LCI, BLI-bright, and WLI were 11.02, 5.04, and 5.99, respectively. The ΔE was significantly higher with LCI than with WLI (P < 0.001). Limited to cases of small ΔE with WLI, the ΔE was approximately 3 times higher with LCI than with WLI (7.18 vs. 2.25). The ΔE with LCI was larger when the surrounding mucosa had severe intestinal metaplasia (P = 0.04). The average color value of a lesion and the surrounding mucosa differed. This value did not have a sufficient cut-off point between the lesion and surrounding mucosa to distinguish them, even with LCI. Conclusion LCI had a larger ΔE than WLI. It may allow easy recognition and early detection of gastric cancer, even for inexperienced endoscopists.

Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is a rare malignancy that accounts for 1–2% of gastrointestinal tumours. We investigated the clinical characteristics, outcomes, and prognostic factors of primary SBA. We retrospectively analysed the characteristics and clinical courses of 205 SBA patients from 11 institutions in Japan between June 2002 and August 2013. The primary tumour was in the duodenum and jejunum/ileum in 149 (72.7%) and 56 (27.3%) patients, respectively. Sixty-four patients (43.0%) with duodenal adenocarcinoma were asymptomatic and most cases were detected by oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), which was not specifically performed for the detection or surveillance of duodenal tumours. In contrast, 47 patients (83.9%) with jejunoileal carcinoma were symptomatic. The 3-year survival rate for stage 0/I, II, III, and IV cancers was 93.4%, 73.1%, 50.9%, and 15.1%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed performance status 3–4, high carcinoembryonic antigen, high lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), low albumin, symptomatic at diagnosis, and stage III/IV disease were independent factors for overall survival (OS). Ten patients (18.5%) with stage IV disease were treated with a combination of resection of primary tumour, local treatment of metastasis, and chemotherapy; this group had a median OS of 36.9 months. Although most SBA patients were diagnosed with symptomatic, advanced stage disease, some patients with duodenal carcinoma were detected in early stage by EGD. High LDH and symptomatic at diagnosis were identified as novel independent prognostic factors for OS. The prognosis of advanced SBA was poor, but combined modality therapy with local treatment of metastasis might prolong patient survival.

Recent technological advances have stimulated the development of endoscopic optical biopsy technologies. This study compared the accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis using magnifying narrow-band imaging (NBI) and histologic diagnosis of esophageal squamous lesions. Patients at high risk for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma were examined with endoscopy and subsequent biopsy. The lesions diagnosed as cancer on NBI and the lesions diagnosed as cancer on biopsy were resected endoscopically or surgically. Histological diagnoses of resected specimens, the reference standards in this study, were made by a pathologist who was blind to both the endoscopic and biopsy diagnoses. The primary outcome was the accuracy of endoscopic and biopsy diagnosis. A noninferiority trial design with a noninferiority margin of −10% was chosen to investigate the accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis using magnifying NBI. Between November 2010 and October 2012, a total of 111 lesions in 85 patients were included in the analysis. The accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis and biopsy diagnosis for all lesions was 91.0% (101/111) and 85.6% (95/111), respectively. The difference in diagnostic accuracy was 5.4% (95% confidence interval: −2.9%–13.7%). The accuracy of endoscopic diagnosis and biopsy diagnosis of invasive cancers was 94.9% (74/78) and 84.6% (66/78), respectively. The difference was 10.3% (95% confidence interval: 1.6%–19.0%) for invasive cancers. The lower bound of the 95% confidence interval was above the prestated −10% in both cases. Noninferiority of endoscopic diagnosis by magnifying NBI to histologic diagnosis by biopsy was established in this study (p = 0.0001). The study was registered on 9th November 2010 in the University Hospital Medical Network Clinical Trials Registry as number: UMIN000004529.

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization has been widely used to treat advanced hepatocellular carcinoma that cannot be treated by local ablation therapies or surgical resection. The effectiveness of transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in prolonging survival has been well established, and approximately one third of newly discovered hepatocellular carcinoma patients were repeatedly treated by transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in Japan. Various kinds of complications have been reported, and many of which are general complications such as hepatic coma, jaundice, fever-up, ascites, and bile duct injury.