The current study demonstrated that AFI improved the detection rate of colorectal adenoma, particularly flat and depressed adenomas, but not for elevated adenomas. An elevated adenoma is easily detected as a reddish and protruding lesion by HRE because HRE can detects abnormalities through capturing the changes of color and shape. However, flat and depressed adenoma is sometimes described just a faint red areas with no elevation, which thus tend to be difficult to detect by HRE. On the other hand, AFI captures the fluorescence mostly emitted from collagen in the submucosal layer and diagnoses the abnormal area through a diminished fluorescence intensity. The dysplastic grade of the lesions is the main factor that affects the fluorescence captured by AFI [
27]. The increase in dysplasia appears to facilitate the detection rate of colorectal adenoma by AFI, regardless the shape of the lesion.
A noteworthy finding of the current study is that the efficacy of AFI to detect colorectal adenoma was limited for less-experienced endoscopists. The experienced endoscopists appeared to empirically recognize many of adenomas, even flat and depressed adenoma, with HRE, and thus AFI was not a superior disgnostic modality for experienced endoscopists in detecting colorectal adenoma. The present study revealed that the miss rate with HRE by experienced endoscopists (24.0%) is relatively lower than that previously reported [
22][
26][
28][
29][
30]. This was probably because only highly experienced endoscopists (> 8000 standard and

>

100 AFI) were strictly selected as experienced endoscopists in this study. Conversely, it should not be easy for less-experienced endoscopists to find colorectal adenoma (50.0%), particularly flat and depressed adenoma, with HRE. Most endoscopists, including less-experienced endoscopists, can immediately utilize AFI because AFI diagnosis is simply based on the color intensity of magenta. This objectivity of AFI probably facilitated the detection rate and reduced the miss rate of colorectal adenoma in less-experienced endoscopists. The clinical value of HRE and AFI is therefore considered to depend on the experience of endoscopists.
Three previous reports have shown controversial results concerning the efficacy of AFI for detecting colorectal adenoma. Matsuda et al. concluded that AFI showed a higher detection rate than did white light endoscopy when using a modified back to back method wherein the authors observed the proximal colon twice, once with white light endoscopy and once with AFI, with both examinations being performed by the same endoscopist [
22]. Subsequently, two investigations proposed the detection rate of AFI and HRE using the back to back method. These studies inspected the entire colon twice during withdrawal: once with AFI and once with HRE by the same endoscopist and found no efficiency of AFI for reducing the adenoma miss-rate in comparison to HRE [
23][
24]. These studies possess a potential bias because both endoscopic examinations are performed by the same endoscopist and the second endoscopic diagnosis was therefore influenced by the findings of the first endoscopy. This may explain the controversial results obtained from the two similar studies. Conversely, in the current study, AFI was performed by an endoscopist who was not aware of the information of HRE. This allowed the determination of the efficiency of AFI in the detection of flat and depressed adenoma by less-experienced endoscopists.
Chromoendoscopy can improve the detection of colonic lesions [
31-
36]. However, chromoendoscopy with magnified observation is time-consuming, operator-dependent and impossible to switch back to the conventional colonoscopy, which may affect the ability to detect mucosal abnormalities in other areas. Narrow band imaging (NBI), a new system in which spectral features are modified by narrowing the bandwidth of spectral transmittance with optical filters and can assess capillary architecture and microvessels just by manipulating a button [
37][
38], is also a promising tool to improve the detection rate of colorectal adenoma [
28][
39]. Indeed, recent studies have demonstrated adenoma miss-rates for HRE of 40% to 46% when a second examination was performed with NBI. This suggests that NBI is superior to HRE when utilized for adenoma detection [
28][
29]. Because NBI has a high ability to discriminate colon adenoma from hyperplasia [
40][
41], the combination of AFI and NBI can potentially improve the selective detection rate of colon adenoma. Further analysis to compare the efficacy of AFI, NBI or their combination for detecting colon neoplasms is therefore needed to establish the optimal diagnostic modality to perform screening colonoscopy using new advanced imaging systems such as NBI and AFI.
The procedural time to perform AFI (267.0

±

20.8 seconds) was significantly longer than that of HRE (144.5

±

8.8 seconds). This is a disadvantage of AFI when using it as screening examinations. Whereas AFI can capture the fluorescence emitted from intestinal tissue, the resolution of AFI is still not sufficient. Therefore, endoscopists have to be cautious when performing colonoscopic examinations with AFI, in order not to increase the overall examination time. New advances in endoscopic tools are expected to produce a higher resolution and optimized operation system of AFI, thus leading to a reduction in the time needed to perform the AFI procedures.
Because it is not easy to judge the lesions detected by both HRE and AFI, or either of the two procedures (particularly when multiple lesions are detected), when the entire colon is targeted, this study investigated only the recto-sigmoid colon. This is thought to be a limitation of this study. A further analysis covering the entire colon will be warranted to draw conclusions about the overall usefulness of AFI for the detection of colon lesions.