Artificial intelligence is likely to perform several roles currently performed by humans, and the adoption of artificial intelligence-based medicine in gastroenterology practice is expected in the near future. Medical image-based diagnoses, such as pathology, radiology, and endoscopy, are expected to be the first in the medical field to be affected by artificial intelligence. A convolutional neural network, a kind of deep-learning method with multilayer perceptrons designed to use minimal preprocessing, was recently reported as being highly beneficial in the field of endoscopy, including esophagogastroduodenoscopy, colonoscopy, and capsule endoscopy. A convolutional neural network-based diagnostic program was challenged to recognize anatomical locations in esophagogastroduodenoscopy images, Helicobacter pylori infection, and gastric cancer for esophagogastroduodenoscopy; to detect and classify colorectal polyps; to recognize celiac disease and hookworm; and to perform small intestine motility characterization of capsule endoscopy images. Artificial intelligence is expected to help endoscopists provide a more accurate diagnosis by automatically detecting and classifying lesions; therefore, it is essential that endoscopists focus on this novel technology. In this review, we describe the effects of artificial intelligence on gastroenterology with a special focus on automatic diagnosis, based on endoscopic findings.
Ancylostomatoidea ; Artificial Intelligence ; Capsule Endoscopy ; Celiac Disease ; Colonoscopy ; Diagnosis ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Endoscopy ; Endoscopy, Digestive System ; Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal ; Gastroenterology ; Helicobacter pylori ; Humans ; Intestine, Small ; Learning ; Methods ; Neural Networks (Computer) ; Pathology ; Polyps ; Stomach Neoplasms

Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an immune-mediated fibro-inflammatory disorder characterized by specific pathological findings and elevated serum IgG4 level. IgG4-RD in the stomach is rare, and occasionally diagnosed as gastric subepithelial tumor (SET) by endoscopy or computed tomography scan. Two female patients in the age group of 40–50 years were diagnosed with 4 cm sized gastric SET. One underwent laparoscopic gastric wedge resection. Another one had a history of subtotal gastrectomy for early gastric cancer and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura with oral steroids administration. She underwent a completion total gastrectomy with splenectomy for the gastric SET and ITP. The pathology showed storiform fibrosis, and IgG4 was positive in immunohistochemistry (IHC) stain. IgG4-RD is known as a medical disease that could be treated with oral steroids. The difficulty in preoperative diagnosis of the disease occasionally causes unnecessary gastric resection. Thus, preoperative diagnostic methods for IgG4-RD such as deep biopsy with IHC stain or magnetic resonance imaging are needed.
Biopsy ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Fibrosis ; Gastrectomy ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors* ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin G ; Immunoglobulins ; Immunohistochemistry ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pathology ; Purpura, Thrombocytopenic, Idiopathic ; Splenectomy ; Steroids ; Stomach Neoplasms ; Stomach*

Management of large-size retrorectal gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) is complex and challenging from diagnosis to treatment. This may create technical difficulties in surgical access and complete resection of the tumor. The abdominosacral resection has the benefit of improved visualization via the anterior incision, with enhanced exposure of the midrectal area, which makes resecting the tumor completely via the posterior approach easier. We report 2 cases of patients with a retrorectal GIST and neurofibromatosis type 1, one in a 27-year-old woman with a defecation complaint and the other in a 58-year-old woman with a defecation and urination complaint. Based on the anatomical pathology, both patients were diagnosed with a GIST. The tumors were excised via an abdominosacral resection. Retrorectal GISTs are rare, and abdominosacral resection allows complete resection of a large-size retrorectal GIST with low morbidity and an absence of functional impairment. The abdominosacral resection should be considered in certain situations.
Adult ; Defecation ; Diagnosis ; Disease Management ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Neurofibromatosis 1 ; Pathology ; Rectal Neoplasms ; Urination

Primary malignant small bowel tumor as a rare kind of intestinal tumor is associated with a poor prognosis. The pathological types were various and complicated, such as adenocarcinoma, neuroendocrine tumor, malignant lymphoma, and malignant stromal tumor. The atypical early stage symptom resulted in difficult diagnosis at early stage, high misdiagnosis rate and lack of standard therapy schemes and means. In the past, X-ray, CT, MRI, and PET-CT were the main examination methods for primary small bowel tumor. However, with the development of radiology, a series of new diagnosis methods, including electronic enteroscopy, capsule endoscopy, multi-slice spiral CT enteroclysis and so on, promotes the diagnosis accurate rate. Surgery is still the most important method in the small bowel tumor treatment, and the alternative of the surgical method should depend on the tumor location, size and relationship with the adjacent organs. Application of the laparoscopic surgery for the small bowel tumor is still in the initial stage. Besides, some researches have confirmed that chemotherapy, radiotherapy, target therapy and endocrinotherapy have effects on the specific kind of small bowel tumor. Therefore this article will review the epidemiology, pathology, diagnosis and treatment of the primary malignant small bowel tumors.
Adenocarcinoma ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Capsule Endoscopy ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Intestinal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Intestine, Small ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Laparoscopy ; methods ; Lymphoma ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; diagnosis ; epidemiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Tomography, Spiral Computed

BACKGROUND/AIMS: A barbed puncture needle with a side hole was recently developed to improve sample quality and quantity in endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA). In this study, we retrospectively assessed the usefulness of this puncture needle. METHODS: Factors affecting diagnostic yield, safety, and diagnostic accuracy were investigated in 76 patients who consecutively underwent EUS-FNA for neoplastic lesions at our hospital between January and December 2013. RESULTS: The procedure was successful in all cases; the rates of sample collection and determination of the correct diagnosis were 92.1% and 89.5%, respectively. The mean number of needle passes required for diagnosis was 1.1. Complications included mild intraluminal bleeding in two patients (2.6%). Multivariate analysis revealed that lesion size (< or =20 mm) was significantly associated with a decreased chance of determining the correct diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Core biopsy needles with a side hole are safe and provide a satisfactory diagnostic yield. However, the side hole may potentially reduce the rate of making the correct diagnosis in small lesions.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Digestive System Neoplasms/*diagnosis/ultrasonography ; Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration/*instrumentation ; Equipment Design ; Equipment Safety ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Tract/pathology/ultrasonography ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Needles/adverse effects/*statistics & numerical data ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Retrospective Studies ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Statistics, Nonparametric

The aim of the present study was to accurately evaluate the association of Sox2 expression with the survival of patients with digestive tract cancers. Relevant literatures were identified by comprehensively searching databases including the Pubmed, Embase, CBMdisc, and Wanfang (up to October 2014). A meta-analysis was performed to clarify the association between Sox2 expression and overall survival or clinicopathological parameters of patients with digestive tract cancers (esophageal, gastric, and colorectal cancers). The results showed a significant association between high Sox2 expression and poor overall survival in patients with digestive tract carcinomas (HR=1.55, 95% CI=1.04-2.31), especially for patients with esophageal cancer (HR=2.04, 95%CI=1.30-3.22), colorectal cancer (HR=1.40, 95% CI=1.04-1.89), and digestive tract adenocarcinoma (HR=1.80, 95% CI=1.12-2.89), for Europeans (HR=1.98, 95% CI=1.44-2.71) or patients who did not receive neoadjuvant treatment (HR=1.73, 95% CI=1.10-2.72). Furthermore, Sox2 over-expression was highly correlated with vascular invasion (OR=1.86, 95% CI=1.25-2.77) and poor differentiation (OR=1.88, 95% CI=1.14-3.08), especially in esophageal and colorectal cancers. In conclusion, Sox2 expression may serve as a novel prognostic factor for patients with digestive tract cancers. Over-expression of Sox2 that is correlated with vascular invasion and poor differentiation suggests poor outcomes of patients with digestive tract cancers.
Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; genetics ; metabolism ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; metabolism ; pathology ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; methods ; Neoplasm Grading ; Neoplasms, Vascular Tissue ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; secondary ; Prognosis ; SOXB1 Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; mortality ; pathology ; Survival Analysis

Endoscopy plays a significant role in the diagnosis, management, and surveillance of colorectal cancer (CRC) and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Moreover, magnifying endoscopy and image-enhanced endoscopy has a crucial role in the clinical setting. Recently, a super-magnifying endoscope has been developed, and two devices, confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) and an endocytoscopy system (ECS), which allow in vivo microscopic inspection of the microstructural mucosal features of the gastrointestinal tract, are currently available. Studies on the use of ECS in CRC were reported by a Japanese group. Additionally, a few studies on the use of ECS in IBD have been reported. CLE has been shown to be reliable in assessing the activity of the disease in IBDs in both ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. Various published studies evaluated the use of CLE during colonoscopy to distinguish colorectal polyp pathology and neoplasia. However, these studies are heterogeneous, and further evidence is necessary to confirm the efficacy of CLE.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Colitis, Ulcerative ; Colonoscopy ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; Crohn Disease ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopes ; Endoscopy* ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Humans ; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ; Pathology ; Polyps

OBJECTIVETo study the clinicopathological characteristics of hepatic angiomyolipoma (HAML) and to evaluate the correlation between clinicopathological parameters and tumor subtypes.

METHODSRetrospective analysis of clinicopathological features was conducted in 182 cases of HAML.

RESULTSHAML patients were predominantly female (M:F=1:4) and most commonly presented with non-specific symptoms. The median age at diagnosis was 46 years, ranged from 17 to 77 years. Tumor diameter was ranged from 0.3 to 32.0 cm with an average of 5.0 cm. Majority of the tumor was epithelioid type (112/165, 67.9%). Extramedullary hematopoiesis, multinucleated giant cells, intranuclear inclusions, nucleolus, cellular atypia, invasive growth pattern, multiple masses, hyperpigmentation and purpura-like changes mostly occurred in the epithelioid type (P<0.05). Extramedullary hematopoiesis was commonly seen in HAML, the significance of which was still uncertain.

CONCLUSIONSMost of HAML are epithelioid type, characterized by a proliferation of predominantly epithelioid cells, in which extramedullary hematopoiesis is commonly seen. Some morphologic features that may predict malignant such as necrosis, mitotic figures, and tumor emboli are only found in the epithelioid HAML. Mitotic activity, tumor necrosis, tumor thrombus, giant cells, periportal invasion, multiple lesions and tumors size over 10 cm are closely related with tumor recurrence and metastasis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Angiomyolipoma ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Epithelioid Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Giant Cells ; pathology ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Necrosis ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo elucidate the historic and current diagnosis and treatment status of gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) in the Chinese population based on four high volume databases.

METHODSClinicopathological data of GIST patients with follow-up information between January 1998 and December 2015 from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital and Guangdong General Hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Kaplan-Meire method was used to draw survival curve. The accumulative survival rate was calculated by life table method. Comparison of survival rate among groups was examined by Log-rank test.

RESULTSA total of 2 610 cases were enrolled into the study, including 667(25.6%) cases from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, 754(28.9%) cases from Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 692(26.5%) cases from Southern Medical University Nanfang Hospital and 497 (19.0%) cases from Guangdong General Hospital. There were 1 394 male and 1 216 female cases with the ratio of 1.15 to 1.00. The age of patients was from 18 to 95 (median 58.0) years old. Three-year was used as a time stage, then 18 years were divided into 6 stages. New GIST patients increased gradually year by year. There were 13(0.5%) cases during 1998 to 2000, 68(2.6%) cases during 2001 to 2003, 256(9.8%) cases during 2004 to 2006, 517 (19.8%) cases during 2007 to 2009, 814(31.2%) cases during 2010 to 2012, and 942 (36.1%) cases during 2013 to 2015. Primary GIST sites were esophagus in 50(1.9%) cases, stomach in 1 686(64.6%) cases, duodenum in 206 (7.9%) cases, jejunum and ileum in 446 (17.1%) cases, colon and rectum in 133 (5.1%) cases, and non-gastrointestinal tract in 89 (3.4%) cases. GIST lesions of 2 404(92.1%) cases located in the primary sites and relapse/metastasis occurred in 206 cases when consulting. Among 206 relapse/metastasis cases, liver metastasis was found in 126 (61.2%) cases, abdominal cavity/pelvic cavity metastasis in 64 (31.1%) cases, liver plus abdominal cavity/pelvic cavity metastasis in 12 (5.8%) cases, and other site metastasis in 4 (1.9%) cases. Among all the patients, 352 received gene detection, including 1 (0.4%) during 2004 to 2006, 7 (1.4%) during 2007 to 2009, 150 (18.4%) during 2010 to 2012, and 194 (20.6%) during 2013 to 2015. Most of the primary oncogenic mutational site occurred in c-Kit, including 30 (8.5%) cases in exon 9, 242 (68.8%) cases in exon 11, 4 (1.1%) cases in exon 13, 2 (0.6%) cases in exon 17, while 3 (0.9%) cases in PDGFRA exon 12 and 20 (5.7%) cases in PDGFRA 18, besides, no mutations of KIT and PDGFRA were detected in 51 (14.5%) cases. A total of 2 202 cases underwent operation, including 2 038 (92.6%) of radical resection and 164 (7.4%) of palliative resection. Among 2 038 patients undergoing radical resection, 450 (22.1%) cases were very low risk, 593 (29.1%) cases were low risk, 283 (13.9%) cases were moderate risk and 712 (34.9%) cases were high risk according to NIH risk classification. Of 995 patients with moderate and high risk, 550(55.3%) cases received postoperative imatinib adjuvant therapy, whose ratio in above 6 time stages was as follows: 0, 42.8%(12/28), 19.8%(20/101), 9.8% (21/215), 65.7% (176/268) and 85.6% (321/375). Of 206 relapse/metastasis patients, 200 (97.1%) cases received imatinib as the first-line therapy, and 22 (10.7%) received sunitinib as the second-line therapy. A total of 1 743 patients had complete follow-up data and median follow-up time was 35.9 (0.1 to 173.8) months. The 5-year overall survival rates in very low, low, moderate and high risk patients were 100%, 97%, 95% and 78% respectively.

CONCLUSIONThis retrospective study provides the largest data of GIST and indicates the historic changes of clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis and treatment of GIST for further domestic GIST research.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Agents ; therapeutic use ; China ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Exons ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors ; diagnosis ; pathology ; therapy ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate ; therapeutic use ; Indoles ; therapeutic use ; Liver Neoplasms ; secondary ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit ; Pyrroles ; therapeutic use ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Young Adult

No abstract available.
Adult ; Antineoplastic Agents/*adverse effects ; Antitubercular Agents/therapeutic use ; Biopsy ; Female ; Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors/*drug therapy/pathology/surgery ; Humans ; Imatinib Mesylate/*adverse effects ; Lung Diseases, Interstitial/*chemically induced/diagnosis ; Mycobacterium tuberculosis/*isolation & purification ; Protein Kinase Inhibitors/*adverse effects ; Rectal Neoplasms/*drug therapy/pathology/surgery ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Tuberculosis, Pulmonary/diagnosis/drug therapy/*microbiology