Clinical Research Directory

Narrow Band Imaging Versus Artificial Intelligence for Colonic Surveillance in Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) - ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease - have a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than the general population. For this reason, regular colonoscopies are recommended to look for early warning signs, such as abnormal areas of tissue called dysplasia, which can develop into cancer over time. Finding these abnormal areas during colonoscopy can be difficult because IBD causes ongoing inflammation that can make the bowel mucosa look irregular, hiding subtle changes. Doctors currently use a technique called narrow-band imaging (NBI), a special light setting on the colonoscope that enhances the visibility of the bowel, to help spot these areas more easily. A newer tool, artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted detection, has shown promise in helping doctors find more polyps during routine colonoscopies in the general population. However, this AI tool was developed and tested mostly in people without IBD, so it is not yet known whether it works as well in people with IBD, whose bowel can look very different due to chronic inflammation. This study will directly compare the AI tool (CADe; ENDO-AID, Olympus) with narrow-band imaging to see which one is better at finding abnormal areas during colonoscopy in patients with long-standing ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease who are having their routine cancer surveillance exam. Each participant will have one colonoscopy in which the bowel is examined twice in a row, once with each technique, by two different doctors, in random order. This lets researchers compare both methods directly within the same patient, which is the fairest comparison. The study aims to enroll 60 patients at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain. Researchers hope the results will help determine whether AI tools - which are widely available and easier to use than NBI - can be a reliable alternative for IBD surveillance, potentially making this important cancer-screening exam more accessible in the future.