Artificial intelligence improves submucosal vessel detection during third space endoscopy

Background and study aims: While artificial intelligence (AI) shows high potential in decision support for diagnostic gastrointestinal endoscopy, its role in therapeutic endoscopy remains unclear. Third space endoscopic procedures pose the risk of intraprocedural bleeding. Therefore, we aimed to develop an AI algorithm for intraprocedural blood vessel detection. Patients and Methods: Using a test dataset with 101 standardized video clips containing 200 predefined submucosal blood vessels, 19 endoscopists were evaluated for the vessel detection rate (VDR) and time (VDT) with and without support of an AI algorithm. Test subjects were grouped according to experience in ESD. Results: With AI support, endoscopists VDR increased from 56.4% [CI 54.1–58.6] to 72.4% [CI 70.3–74.4]. Endoscopists‘ VDT dropped from 6.7sec [CI 6.2-7.1] to 5.2sec [CI 4.8-5.7]. False positive (FP) readings appeared in 4.5% of frames and were marked significantly shorter than true positives (6.0sec [CI 5.28-6.70] vs. 0.7sec [CI 0.55-0.87]). Conclusions: AI improved the vessel detection rate and time of endoscopists during third space endoscopy. While these data need to be corroborated by clinical trials, AI may prove to be an invaluable tool for the improvement of endoscopic interventions.