Capability of reflectance features in diagnosing colorectal polyps using white light colonoscopy

In white light colonoscopy (WLC), three tissue illuminations split from full spectrum of visible spectrum characterize the colorectal mucosa as three reflectance data sets from the superficial surface to the depth of light penetrating. Using reflectance features defined on each data set rather than on superimposed data sets, the diagnostic capabilities of WLC without magnification in differentiating adenoma from hyperplasia polyps were evaluated and compared. We retrospectively collected 89 polyps from 82 patients who underwent the colonoscopy using WLC in November 2011. Of all enrolled polyps, the pathology results included 46 hyperplastic polyps and 43 adenomas. A computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system was established to identify, characterize, and predict malignancy using the most descriptive factors identified from all reflectance features. The diagnostic performance of CAD system using WLC was accuracy 85.4% (76/89), sensitivity 86% (37/43), and specificity 84.8% (39/46). Using reflectance features, the diagnostic capabilities of WLC demonstrated significant diagnostic performances to objectively provide auxiliary information for physicians in predicting adenoma.