628 In Vivo Imaging of Eosinophils With a Tethered Confocal Endomicroscopy Capsule

Abstract

Diagnosis of eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) can be challenging. Currently, EoE is diagnosed by video endoscopy followed by random biopsy. Biopsy samples are prepared as histologic slides, and number of eosinophils is counted per high-power field under a bright field microscope for the final diagnosis. Since a small number of biopsy samples, typically 6, is acquired in a semi-random manner, current biopsy-based diagnosis may be prone to sampling errors. Another challenge in EoE diagnosis is that patients need to go through multiple sedated endoscopy sessions during the course of treatment, which can cause patient discomfort and is expensive.