Analysis of clinicopathological factors associate with the visibility of early gastric cancer in endoscopic examination and usefulness of linked color imaging: A multicenter prospective study

Background This study investigated clinicopathological factors associated with the visibility of early gastric cancer and the efficacy of linked color imaging. Methods Patients with early gastric cancer who underwent endoscopic treatment between April 2021 and July 2022 were enrolled. All cases underwent white light imaging and linked color imaging. Three experts evaluated lesion visibility using a visual analog scale. A mean score ≥3 on white light imaging was defined as “good visibility”, and Results Ninety-seven lesions were analyzed, with good visibility in 49 and poor visibility in 48. Multivariate analysis revealed small lesion size (odds ratio 1.89) and presence of endoscopic intestinal metaplasia (odds ratio 0.49) as significantly associated with the poor visibility of early gastric cancer. Mean visibility score was significantly higher for linked color imaging (P Conclusions Lesion size and endoscopic intestinal metaplasia are associated with the visibility of early gastric cancer in white light imaging. Linked color imaging improves visibility of gastric cancer with these factors.