BACKGROUND/AIMS: All epithelial cells emit autofluoresce, with tumor cells emitting weaker autofluorescence. We categorized patterns of autofluorescence imaging (AFI) and compared their clinical characteristics and pathology findings after endoscopic submucosal dissection.

METHODS

Twenty patients were enrolled, comprising 4 adenomas and 16 early gastric cancers. AFI findings were classified as follows: G0 (well-defined pink lesion on a green background with a clear interface over >/=50% of its area), G1 (pink-green mottled lesion on a green background with a clear interface over <50% of its area), P1 (pink-green mottled lesion on a purple background with a clear interface over <50% of its area), and P2 (vague lesion on a purple background with a clear interface over </=10% of its area).

RESULTS

Most of the patients (80%) were male, and their median age was 62.4 years (range: 46-78 years). The lesion sizes by white-light mode, AFI mode, and pathology were 20.8+/-13.1, 22.8+/-15.4, and 20.0+/-17.7 mm (mean+/-SD), respectively. Sixteen cases of adenocarcinoma were classified as follows: G0 (n=10), G1 (n=2), P1 (n=2), and P2 (n=2). The G0 group has no p53 positive lesions, unlike the non-G0 group (p=0.044). All cases with the P1 and P2 patterns were of the gastric and intestinal types, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

AFI images of gastric tumors were categorized into four patterns that were useful for defining the resection margin in 87.5% of cases, with G0 being the most common pattern (62.5%).