Abstract Background Dye chromoendoscopy (DCE) with targeted biopsies has traditionally been considered the gold standard for optimal detection of dysplasia in the context of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) surveillance. Randomised trials have challenged this with both virtual chromoendoscopy (VCE) and high-definition white light endoscopy (WLE) appearing to have comparable yield. This multicentre UK study aims to test the hypothesis that neoplasia detection rate (NDR) in IBD surveillance as part of routine clinical care is not affected by the modality used. Methods IBD surveillance colonoscopy procedures for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) and colonic Crohn’s disease (CD) performed in five UK centres between 2018 and 2024 were reviewed. For procedures with polypectomy or missing data, median withdrawal times for each modality from non-polypectomy cases were imputed. Significant variables in a univariate analysis were included in a logistic regression model to adjust NDR in the three modalities. Results A total of 2,673 IBD surveillance colonoscopies in 2,050 patients were included: 1,275 (48%) WLE, 1,032 (38%) DCE, 366 (14%) VCE. Disease breakdown included 74% UC and 26% CD, and 25% of patients had concomitant primary sclerosing cholangitis. The majority (67%) were performed by endoscopists with expertise in IBD surveillance. Median (IQR) withdrawal time in minutes without polypectomy was DCE: 17 (13, 22), VCE: 14 (12, 20), WLE: 11 (8, 14). Neoplasia was detected in 305 (11%) procedures. The NDR (95% CI) were VCE: 19% (15.3, 23.6), DCE: 12% (9.9, 13.9) and WLE: 9% (7.5, 10.7), p<0.001 (figure 1A). In a univariate analysis, 8 variables were significantly associated with NDR. A logistic regression model including these variables (figure 2) showed that VCE significantly increased dysplasia detection (p<0.001). Older age, previous dysplasia, and longer withdrawal time also significantly increased NDR (p<0.001), with active disease having the opposite effect (p=0.035). Adjustment for these variables did not change modality related NDR substantially (figure 1B). A higher number of targeted biopsies per procedure were taken with DCE 0.52 (SD 1.68) compared to VCE 0.33 (SD 1.59) or WLE 0.13 (SD0.78), p <0.001. However, this did not improve dysplasia yield within these biopsies: DCE 3.2%, VCE 5.7%, WLE 5.0%, (p=0.248). Conclusion In this study of IBD surveillance in routine clinical practice VCE has higher NDR than DCE and WLE. DCE was associated with more targeted biopsies without greater dysplasia detection.
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