Duan ZH, Zhou SY. Biopsy forceps are useful for measuring esophageal varices in vitro. World J Gastrointest Surg 2024; 16(2): 539-545 [PMID: 38463364 DOI: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i2.539]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhi-Hui Duan, MM, Attending Doctor, Endoscopy Center, Xingtai People’s Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 16 Hongxing Street, Xingtai 054000, Hebei Province, China. 15131988129@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Observational Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (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: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Surg. Feb 27, 2024; 16(2): 539-545 Published online Feb 27, 2024. doi: 10.4240/wjgs.v16.i2.539
Biopsy forceps are useful for measuring esophageal varices in vitro
Zhi-Hui Duan, Sheng-Yun Zhou
Zhi-Hui Duan, Sheng-Yun Zhou, Endoscopy Center, Xingtai People’s Hospital, Xingtai 054000, Hebei Province, China
Author contributions: Duan ZH contributed to the concept and design of this study, acquisition, analysis, interpretation of data, statistical analysis and drafting of the manuscript; Duan ZH and Zhou SY were involved in the critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the ethics committee of Xingtai People’s Hospital on June 28,2023 (approval No. 2023046), and in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed consent prior to this online survey.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: The original data can be obtained from the correspondence author.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
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: Zhi-Hui Duan, MM, Attending Doctor, Endoscopy Center, Xingtai People’s Hospital of Hebei Medical University, No. 16 Hongxing Street, Xingtai 054000, Hebei Province, China. 15131988129@163.com
Received: October 15, 2023 Peer-review started: October 15, 2023 First decision: December 6, 2023 Revised: December 20, 2023 Accepted: January 9, 2024 Article in press: January 9, 2024 Published online: February 27, 2024 Processing time: 133 Days and 2.1 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Accurate estimation of esophageal varices (EVs) is essential because variceal diameter is used to determine the exact diagnostic category, appropriate therapy, and observational intervals for patients with liver cirrhosis. However, visual estimation of EV size by endoscopists are often inaccurate.
Research motivation
Upper gastrointestinal bleeding due to EVs is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. As the risk of variceal bleeding is assessed by variceal size, accurate measurement of EV size is important. We therefore need to improve the accuracy of endoscopists to estimate EV size.
Research objectives
We aimed to evaluate whether open biopsy forceps (BF) can be used to improve the accuracy of binary classification of EV size.
Research methods
A simulated EV model with known EV sizes was constructed. An online image-based test comprising 11 endoscopic images of simulated EV without BF and 11 endoscopic images of EV with BF was evaluated in random order by 52 endoscopists.
Research results
The ability of endoscopists to correctly classify the varices according to size (small, ≤ 5 mm vs large, > 5 mm) was improved from 71.85% to 82.17% with the use of open BF (P < 0.001).
Research conclusions
This study showed that using open BF as a reference may improve the assessment of variceal size. However, its use in clinical endoscopy practice requires further investigation.
Research perspectives
Using open BF as a reference may significantly improve the accuracy of esophageal variceal size binary classification. Additional clinical studies using BF during gastroscopy are required to confirm our findings.
