• Anna Chaber-Ciopinska, Dorota Kiprian, Paulina Wieszczy, Andrzej Bielasik, Marek Bugajski, Wladyslaw Januszewicz, Andrzej Jarzabski, Milena Niemiec, Andrzej Mroz, Andrzej Kawecki, Jaroslaw Regula, and Michal F Kaminski.
• Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Clinical Oncology, Centre of Postgraduate Medical Education, Warsaw, Poland; Department of Gastroenterological Oncology, Maria Skłodowska-Curie National Research Institute of Oncology, Warsaw, Poland. annachaber@op.pl
• Pol. Arch. Med. Wewn. 2023 Oct 26; 133 (10).

IntroductionTo date, there is no established optimal method for endoscopic detection of esophageal squamous cell neoplasia in high‑risk individuals.ObjectivesWe aimed to compare the performance of narrow‑band imaging (NBI) and Lugol chromoendoscopy in screening for esophageal neoplasia among patients with a history of treatment for head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC).Patients And MethodsWe randomly assigned 300 patients who had completed curative treatment for HNSCC at least 1 year prior to the inclusion to undergo either NBI or Lugol endoscopy (2:1 ratio). Following white‑light examination of the esophagus, the assigned imaging study was performed, and biopsies were taken from any suspicious lesions identified using NBI or Lugol chromoendoscopy. The primary end point was positive predictive value (PPV) of the biopsied lesion for a diagnosis of esophageal neoplasia (high‑grade intraepithelial neoplasia [HG‑IEN] or invasive esophageal squamous cell carcinoma [ESCC]). The secondary end points included the number of biopsied lesions, duration of esophagus examination, and endoscopy tolerance.ResultsIn 294 patients included in the final analysis (NBI, n = 204; Lugol chromoendoscopy, n = 90), we diagnosed 3 ESCCs (1.02%) and 2 HG‑IENs (0.68%). The PPV of NBI and Lugol chromoendoscopy in per‑lesion analysis was 7.69% (95% CI, 0.94%-25.1%) and 8.11% (95% CI, 1.7%-21.9%), respectively (P >0.99). NBI outperformed Lugol chromoendoscopy in terms of the rate of patients requiring biopsy (12.75% vs 41.11%; P = 0.003), duration of esophagus examination (3.5 min vs 5.15 min; P <0.001), and endoscopy tolerance assessed on the visual analog scale (25 mm vs 36.5 mm; P = 0.002).ConclusionsWith a PPV comparable to that of Lugol chromoendoscopy, but a lower number of biopsies required, shorter examination time, and better patient tolerance, NBI could be considered the primary screening method for ESCC in patients with HNSCC.

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