Purpose of review: Second primary tumors (SPTs) significantly increase the mortality in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). Virtual chromoendoscopy (VCE) could complement or replace lugol chromoendoscopy (LCE) for early esophageal second primary tumor (ESPT) detection. An overview of the existing techniques and their diagnostic performance in early detection of esophageal squamous cell neoplasms is provided.
Recent findings: Nowadays, LCE is the golden standard to detect ESPTs. Recently, multiple new VCE techniques have been developed. Especially narrow-band imaging (NBI) is promising. It shows similar sensitivity to LCE, but a significantly higher specificity. Patients with HNSCC are prone to develop ESPTs, both synchronous and metachronous, with a substantial negative impact on survival rates. Therefore, active screening and follow-up is necessary. LCE is an effective screening method, but has some disadvantages. Countering these drawbacks, NBI shows a high potential in early ESPT detection in high-risk patients. Additional multicenter studies are needed to compare diagnostic performance and cost-effectiveness of NBI and other VCE techniques with LCE.
Keywords: Enhanced imaging; Esophageal cancer; Head and neck cancer; Lugol chromoendoscopy; Second primary tumor; Virtual chromoendoscopy.