Key Insights:
- The study assessed the diagnostic performance of general endoscopists predicting the histology of small colorectal polyps with and without the assistance of computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) in a real-life clinical setting across six U.S. centers.
- The CADx device was used on 2695 polyps measuring 5 mm or less in 1252 patients. Sensitivity for histologic prediction remained nearly the same with CADx assistance (90.7% unassisted vs. 90.8% assisted). However, specificity was higher in the CADx-assisted group (59.5% unassisted vs. 64.7% assisted).
- CADx-assisted predictions allowed for 88.2% of polyps to be resected and discarded without pathologic evaluation, slightly higher than the 86.1% in the unassisted group. Despite this improvement, the overall specificity of CADx-assisted diagnosis was still considered suboptimal.
While CADx technology did not significantly increase the sensitivity of histologic predictions, it did improve specificity. The study highlights the potential for CADx to aid in the real-time assessment of colorectal polyps, although further refinement is needed for optimal clinical decision-making.