Contribution of New Technologies to Endoscopic Imaging

A thorough endoscopic visualization of the small-bowel mucosa is essential for reaching an accurate diagnosis and treating the respective disease. Standard white-light endoscopes permit gross examination of the small-bowel mucosa. The introduction of magnification or zoom endoscopy has increased our ability to analyze the mucosal details. With the application of dyes and zoom-magnification endoscopy, further architectural features of the mucosa can be elucidated. New techniques, especially computed virtual chromoendoscopy (NBI, FICE, i-Scan), have enhanced the optical capabilities for the evaluation of gut mucosal lesions. Recently, confocal endomicroscopy was proposed for the study of the small-bowel mucosa.