Autofluorescence imaging

Abstract

With the aim to reduce cancer mortality, early detection of neoplasia is one of the most challenging tasks in upper and lower of gastrointestinal endoscopy. Despite microscopic architectural and cellular differences between normal, premalignant and early malignant epithelia, standard endoscopy often fails to be sufficiently informative for the human eye, due to the lack of colour contrast in white-light mode. Autofluorescence imaging (AFI) is based on the property of short wavelengths to excite endogenous molecules in the gastrointestinal mucosa to emit fluorescence and exploits different fluorescent properties of neoplastic compared to normal tissue. Hence, AFI stands as a red-flag wide-field endoscopic technique for early cancer detection.