Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide. Because of the slow progression of the precancerous precursors, an efficient endoscopic surveillance strategy may be expected. It seems that around one-fourth of colorectal malignancies are still missed during colonoscopy. Several endoscopic technologies have been introduced, without radical changes. Interest in the development of artificial intelligence applications in the medical field has grown in the past decade. Artificial intelligence can help to highlight a specific region of interest that needs closer examination for the identification of polyps. The aim of this review is to report the first clinical experiences with the first US FDA-approved, real-time, deep-learning, computer-aided detection system (GI Genius™, Medtronic).
Keywords: cancer; colonoscopy; computer-aided; innovation; prevention; screening; technology.
Prevention of colorectal cancer through the diagnosis of its precursors is one of the greatest aims of an endoscopist. In this way we can avoid the development of a serious disease from lesions, which at early presentation don't have malignant aspects and could be removed during a colonoscopy. Identification of these lesions could be challenging and is based on the experiences and abilities of physicians, but this could lead to huge differences in the detection of polyps among the population. In the last decade, to improve the ability to detect the aforementioned lesions, which in endoscopy terms are defined as polyps, different systems of detection guided by artificial intelligence have been designed. This technology has been shown to be very helpful and, so, the more lesions that are recognized, the more colorectal cancer could be prevented. This article presents the first system of polyp detection guided by artificial intelligence approved by one of the world's regulatory agencies, the US FDA.