images for the rarely-encountered lesions were difficult to differentiate from the normal images. However, the number of the images screened by IPS was 5000 on average, and only 10%-15% of the original images were left behind. As a result, a large number of normal images were excluded, and the reading time decreased from 5 h to 1 h on average. CONCLUSION: Though the total accuracy and specificity rates by the computer-aided screening for the enteric lesions with IPS are much lower than those by the CE readers, the computer-aided screening diagnosis can exclude a large number of the normal images and confine the enteric lesions to 5000 images on average, which can reduce the workload of the readers in the scanning of the images. This computer-aided screening technique can make a correct diagnosis as efficiently as possible in most of the patients.
INTRODUCTIONDepiction of the small intestines has still been a challenge because of their length and tortuosity. In the past time when some lesions occurred in an intestinal segment, they were usually difficult to identify because of a shortage of the efficiently used tools [1,2] . When the capsule endoscopy (CE) was introduced to the clinical practice in 2000, it became a revolutionary diagnostic tool in diagnosing small intestinal diseases [3] . Besides, there is growing evidence that CE may be used in diagnosing some diseases occurring in the colon and the esophagus [4,5] . Because of the incapability of its use in the insufflation, affusion, biopsy and therapy, when Abstract AIM: To investigate and evaluate the feasibility of the computer-aided screening diagnosis for enteric lesions in the capsule endoscopy (CE). METHODS: After developing a series of algorithms for the screening diagnosis of the enteric lesions in CE based on their characteristic colors and contours, the normal and abnormal images obtained from 289 patients were respectively scanned and diagnosed by the CE readers and by the computer-aided screening for the enteric lesions with the image-processed software (IPS). The enteric lesions shown by the images included esoenteritis, mucosal ulcer and erosion, bleeding, spaceoccupying lesions, angioectasia, diverticula, parasites, etc. The images for the lesions or the suspected lesions confirmed by the CE readers and the computers were collected, and the effectiveness rate of the screening and the number of the scanned images were evaluated, respectively. RESULTS: Compared with the diagnostic results obtained by the CE readers, the total effectiveness rate (sensitivity) in the screening of the commonlyencountered enteric lesions by IPS varied from 42.9% to 91.2%, with a median of 74.2%, though the specificity and the accuracy rates were still low, and the