Diagnostic ability of magnification endoscope with narrow‐band imaging in screening esophagogastroduodenoscopy

Objectives Magnifying endoscopy with narrow‐band imaging (M‐NBI) is useful for the optical diagnosis of gastrointestinal neoplasms. However, the utility of M‐NBI in screening esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic ability of the magnification endoscope (ME) in screening EGD for a population with a low prevalence of upper gastrointestinal cancers. Methods Overall, 4887 asymptomatic examinees without a history of laryngopharyngeal and/or upper gastrointestinal neoplasms who underwent opportunistic screening EGD between April 2011 and December 2017 were enrolled in this retrospective study. The examinees were categorized into two groups depending on whether screening EGD was performed using ME (ME group) or not (non‐ME group). Using a propensity score‐matched analysis, the diagnostic ability of EGD was compared between the two groups. Results In total, 1482 examinees (30%) were allocated to the ME group and 3405 (70%) to the non‐ME group. Thirty‐five epithelial neoplasms were detected in 30 examinees (0.6%). The groups were matched for baseline characteristics (1481 pairs). Both groups showed no significant difference in the epithelial neoplasm detection rate (0.8% vs. 0.3%; P = 0.14). The biopsy rate was significantly lower in the ME group than in the non‐ME group (12% vs. 15%; P = 0.003). The positive predictive value (PPV) for biopsy was significantly higher in the ME group than in the non‐ME group (6.6% vs. 2.8%; P = 0.048). Conclusions Using an ME for screening EGD in an apparently healthy, asymptomatic population could reduce unnecessary biopsies by improving PPV for biopsy without decreasing the epithelial neoplasm detection rate.