Prospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 7, 2025; 31(13): 104370
Published online Apr 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i13.104370
Artificial intelligence-aided optical biopsy improves the diagnosis of esophageal squamous neoplasm
Tian Ma, Guan-Qun Liu, Jing Guo, Rui Ji, Xue-Jun Shao, Yan-Qing Li, Zhen Li, Xiu-Li Zuo
Tian Ma, Guan-Qun Liu, Jing Guo, Rui Ji, Yan-Qing Li, Zhen Li, Xiu-Li Zuo, Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China
Xue-Jun Shao, Qingdao Medicon Digital Engineering Company Limited, Qingdao 266000, Shandong Province, China
Co-first authors: Tian Ma and Guan-Qun Liu.
Co-corresponding authors: Zhen Li and Xiu-Li Zuo.
Author contributions: Ma T and Liu GQ participated in the conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, and writing of the original draft; Guo J and Rui J participated in investigation; Shao XJ participated in methodology; Li YQ, Li Z and Zuo XL participated in the conceptualization, supervision of the study, and editing of the manuscript; All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China, No. 2023YFC2413800; the Taishan Scholars Program of Shandong Province, No. tsqn202306344; and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 82270580 and No. 82070552.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University (No. 2018129).
Clinical trial registration statement: The clinical trial was registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (No. NCT04136236).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
CONSORT 2010 statement: The authors have read the CONSORT 2010 Statement, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CONSORT 2010 Statement.
Data sharing statement: There is no additional data available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiu-Li Zuo, MD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, No. 107 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan 250012, Shandong Province, China. zuoxiuli@sdu.edu.cn
Received: December 24, 2024
Revised: February 24, 2025
Accepted: March 10, 2025
Published online: April 7, 2025
Processing time: 103 Days and 5.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The optical diagnosis of esophageal squamous neoplasms (ESN) is challenging. Probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy (pCLE) enables the optical biopsy of ESN; however, its application is affected by the difficulty of image interpretation. This study developed the first pCLE computer-aided diagnostic system (intelligent confocal laser endomicroscopy) for ESN, enabling real-time diagnosis of pCLE videos. Intelligent confocal laser endomicroscopy was evaluated in a prospective study and compared with endoscopists with different expertise levels. It demonstrated higher sensitivity than both nonexpert and expert endoscopists. Additionally, it assists nonexperts in significantly improving diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity. This system has the potential to assist endoscopists in the application of pCLE and reduce unnecessary biopsies.