ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the ability of linked color imaging(LCI)for diagnosing Helicobacter Pylori(Hp)infection compared with conventional white light imaging(WLI). Methods We prospectively collected subjects who underwent gastroscopy. Images under both WLI and LCI were recorded and analyzed. Software was used to measure pixel brightness for red(R),green(G),blue(B)of endoscopic images from suspected lesion sites. Biopsies were taken from these sites and Warthin-Starry silver staining was used to detect if Hp was present. R/(G+B)value was used to construct receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)to predict Hp infec-tion and the area under curve(AUC),cut-off point,sensitivity,as well as specificity were calculated with the patho-logy as the gold standard. Results Forty-seven subjects(23 men,24 women;23 Uygur subjects,24 Han subjects) were included in a mean age of 49 years old. Ninety-one biopsies were obtained. Forty-four biopsies (48.4%)were Hp positive according to the pathology. The AUC of LCI was 0.616,with the cut-off point at 0.967 and sensitivity at 0.955 and specificity at 0.298. The AUC of WLI was 0.529,with cut-off point at 2.638 and sensi-tivity at 0.455 and specificity at 0.766. The AUC of Han and Uygur subjects were 0.650 and 0.549 by LCI. The AUC of atrophy gastritis subjects and non-atrophy gastritis subjects were 0.628 and 0.603. Conclusion LCI was superior to WLI in predicting Hp infection. LCI may act as an objective and quantified endoscopic diagnostic meth-od in Hp infection.