Enhanced contact endoscopy – new dia­gnostic method of cancerous and precancerous lesions of head and neck mucosa

Early dia­gnosis of mucosal lesions of the head and neck is difficult. The lesions are usually small, malignant tumours sometimes seem benign and vice versa, and the patients’ symptoms are nonspecific. These problems may lead to a delay in the dia­gnosis of malignant tumours, or on the contrary, to unnecessarily quick indication for histologic verification of the tumour. Technological advances in recent years improved the pre-histological dia­gnosis with new endoscopic methods (especially Narrow Band Imaging – NBI and IMAGE1 STM), which allowed a better visualization of the mucosal vessels and their surroundings. Another method, called Enhanced Contact Endoscopy (ECE), combines magnifying optics and enhanced imaging modes (such as NBI and IMAGE1 S) and enables accurate assessment of the mucosal vessels of the examined lesion. Based on the changes in the vascular architecture, it is possible to assess the bio­logical character of the lesion with great precision. The aim of this article is to provide a complex overview of ECE. Key words endoscopy – laryngoscopy – carcinoma – intravital microscopy – Narrow Band Imaging – image enhancement