Published online Dec 7, 2026. doi: 10.3748/wjg.123704
Revised: July 10, 2026
Accepted: July 28, 2026
Published online: December 7, 2026
Processing time: 142 Days and 2.3 Hours
Pathological upgrading after endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) remains clinically challenging in patients with gastric intraepithelial neoplasia (GIN). Existing prediction approaches mainly focus on lesion-specific features, whereas background gastric mucosal status, particularly intestinal metaplasia, is less systematically assessed. Conventional white-light endoscopy has limited accuracy and interobserver agreement in evaluating background gastric mucosal status, particularly intestinal metaplasia.
To evaluate the predictive performance of a narrow-band imaging (NBI)-modified Kyoto Gastritis Score for pathological upgrading in GIN.
This prospective observational cohort study consecutively enrolled 225 patients with GIN undergoing ESD from 2020 to 2024. All patients underwent white-light and NBI endoscopic examinations. Conventional and NBI-modified Kyoto Gastritis Scores were assessed, with post-resection pathology as the reference standard. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate and compare the predictive performance of the two scores. The area under the curve, sensitivity, specificity, and negative predictive value were calculated.
Compared with the conventional white-light Kyoto Gastritis Score, the NBI-modified score achieved a significantly higher area under the curve of 0.862 vs 0.769 (P = 0.002). The modified system improved overall diagnostic accuracy from 74.67% to 80.44%, with sensitivity increasing from 62.0% to 76.1%. At the cutoff score of ≥ 4, the positive and negative predictive values were 76.47% and 83.22%, respectively. Multivariate analysis incorporating Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection status and other factors revealed that the NBI-modified Kyoto Gastritis Score was an independent risk factor for pathological progression after ESD. The predicted performance of the NBI-modified Kyoto Gastritis Score did not differ significantly between patients with current H. pylori infection and those with past/never infection.
In this single-center cohort, the NBI-modified Kyoto Gastritis Score improved prediction of pathological upgrading after endoscopic submucosal dissection and may support preoperative risk stratification, pending external validation.
Core Tip: This prospective study evaluated a narrow-band imaging-magnifying endoscopy-modified Kyoto Gastritis Score for predicting pathological upgrading after endoscopic submucosal dissection in gastric intraepithelial neoplasia. The modified score replaces white-light assessment of intestinal metaplasia with narrow-band imaging-magnifying endoscopy features, improving discrimination over the conventional score (area under the curve: 0.862 vs 0.769) and remaining independently associated with upgrading. A cutoff of ≥ 4 provided a negative predictive value of 83.22%, supporting low-risk identification and surveillance planning across Helicobacter pylori infection subgroups, although multicenter validation remains necessary.