Markers of gastric intestinal metaplasia under digital chromoendoscopy: systematic review and meta-analysis

Diagnosis of gastric intestinal metaplasia (GIM) under digital chromoendoscopy presents various markers. The diagnostic yield of each marker has shown variable results. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to evaluate the following markers: light blue crest (LBC), marginal turbid band (MTB), groove type (GT), white opaque substance (WOS). Discussion of their joint diagnosis, reliability, assessment of local GIM severity and influencing factors was also provided. PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Web of science were searched. The Meta-DiSc and Stata software were used to analyze the data. Fourteen studies were included with a total of 3081 lesions. There were 12 studies for LBC, six for GT, four for MTB and one for WOS, respectively. The pooled results showed that the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of LBC were 0.79 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.76–0.81] and 0.95 (95% CI 0.94–0.96). The sensitivity of GT and MTB were 0.49 (95% CI 0.43–0.54) and 0.47 (95% CI 0.40–0.53), and the specificity were 0.92 (95% CI 0.89–0.94) and 0.92 (95% CI 0.89–0.95). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.9532, 0.7791 and 0.9553 for LBC, GT and MTB, respectively. LBC resulted the most classic marker. Proper combined diagnosis can improve the diagnostic efficiency. Reliability of these markers was acceptable. These markers can help endoscopic to assess the severity of local GIM. Besides intestinal metaplasia, many factors can potentially interfere with the diagnosis.