Artificial intelligence and colorectal neoplasia detection performances in patients with positive fecal immunochemical test: Meta‐analysis and systematic review

Objectives The combination of fecal immunochemical test (FIT) followed by colonoscopy has established itself as one of the preferred population‐based screening strategies. Despite extensive exploration of various techniques and technologies, their impact on adenoma detection rate has shown inconsistency across studies in this specific setting “FIT+ population.” We aimed to assess the impact of the computer‐aided detection (CADe) system in all randomized trials focused on this subpopulation. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases until September 2023 for randomized controlled trials reporting diagnostic accuracy of CADe systems for detection of colorectal neoplasia. The primary outcome was pooled adenoma detection rate, and secondary outcomes were adenoma per colonoscopy, advanced adenoma per colonoscopy, serrated lesions, and nonneoplastic per colonoscopy. Results Ten randomized trials on 5421 patients were included. Adenoma detection rate was higher in the CADe group than in the standard colonoscopy group (0.62 vs. 0.52; relative risk 1.19; 95% confidence interval 1.08–1.31). CADe also resulted in higher detection performances of both adenomas (incidence rate ratio 1.16; 95% confidence interval 1.09–1.24) and serrated lesions (incidence rate ratio, 1.20; 95% confidence interval 1.05–1.38) at per‐polyp analysis. No differences were found for advanced adenomas between the groups. On the other hand, more nonneoplastic polyps were removed in the CADe than the standard group (0.45 vs. 0.34; mean difference 0.06; P = 0.026) in a comparable inspection time. Conclusions The use of CADe during colonoscopy results in an increased detection of adenomas, and serrated lesions, in a FIT+ setting. The impact on advanced adenomas was not significant. Higher rates of unnecessary removal of nonneoplastic polyps were also reported.