title: The use of optical imaging techniques in the gastrointestinal tract.
abstract: With significant advances in the management of gastrointestinal disease there has been a move from diagnosing advanced pathology, to detecting early lesions that are potentially amenable to curative endoscopic treatment. This has required an improvement in diagnostics, with a focus on identifying and characterising subtle mucosal changes. There is great interest in the use of optical technologies to predict histology and enable the formulation of a real-time in vivo diagnosis, a so-called 'optical biopsy'. The aim of this review is to explore the evidence for the use of the current commercially available imaging techniques in the gastrointestinal tract.
authors.affiliation: NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and The University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre Campus, Nottingham , UK.
authors.forename: Sabina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beg
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy , St Mark's hospital , London , UK.
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: NIHR Biomedical Research Unit in Gastrointestinal and Liver Diseases at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust and The University of Nottingham, Queens Medical Centre Campus, Nottingham , UK.
authors.forename: Krish
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ragunath
keywords: BARRETT'S OESOPHAGUS; COLONIC ADENOMAS; ENDOSCOPY; GASTRIC NEOPLASIA; GASTROINTESINAL ENDOSCOPY