Esophageal cancer is increasing in frequency in the United States faster than any other cancer. Barrett's esophagus, an otherwise benign complication of esophageal reflux, affects approximately three million Americans and precedes almost all cases of esophageal cancer. If detected as highgrade dysplasia (HGD), most esophageal cancers can be prevented. Standard-of-care screening for dysplasia uses visual endoscopy and a prescribed pattern of biopsy. This procedure, in which a tiny fraction of the affected tissue is selected for pathological examination, has a low probability of detection because dysplasia is highly focal and visually indistinguishable. We developed a system called endoscopic polarized scanning spectroscopy (EPSS), which performs rapid optical scanning and multispectral imaging of the entire esophageal surface and provides diagnoses in near real time. By detecting and mapping suspicious sites, guided biopsy of invisible, precancerous dysplasia becomes practicable. Here we report the development of EPSS and its application in several clinical cases, one of which merits special consideration.Previously we demonstrated that spectroscopic information in light scattered by nuclei could reveal precancer cellular changes 1 . The first application of light-scattering spectroscopy successfully detected dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus 1-5 using a fiber optic probe that illuminated 1 mm 2 of tissue. Searching the entire area of a diseased esophagus with a singlepoint probe is clinically impractical.Correspondence should be addressed to L.T.P. (ltperel@bidmc.harvard.edu). Note: Supplementary information is available on the Nature Medicine website. AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONSL.Q., E.V., M.D.M., E.B.H., I.I. and L.T.P. developed and evaluated the method; S.I., L.Q. and E.V. contributed codes for instrument control; D.K.P., R.C., J.D.G., J.L., N.O., L.G., L.Q. and A.S. performed clinical procedures; L.Q., D.K.P., R.C., E.B.H., I.I. and L.T.P. contributed to the writing of the manuscript; E.B.H., I.I., D.K.P., R.C. and L.T.P. designed and planned the project. COMPETING FINANCIAL INTERESTSThe authors declare no competing financial interests.Reprints and permissions information is available online at http://npg.nature.com/reprintsandpermissions/. Since then, several new approaches have been explored using high-resolution endoscopy (HRE) combined with narrow band imaging (NBI) 6 , autofluorescence imaging (AFI) 7 , trimodal imaging 8 , which is a combination of the previous three, and confocal laser endomicroscopy 9 . These techniques showed promise in increased detection of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus, although none has as yet achieved clinical acceptance. NIH Public AccessA clinically useful technique in the detection of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus must rapidly survey a comparatively large area while simultaneously detecting changes on a cellular scale. We felt we could achieve both goals by combining an endoscopically compatible scanning instrument with polarized light-scattering spectroscopy (PLSS) 5...

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The etiology of functional dyspepsia is not known. The objective of the present study was to determine the characteristics of functional dyspepsia in Western Turkey. We divided 900 patients with functional dyspepsia into three subgroups according to symptoms: ulcer-like (UL), 321 (35.6%), motility disorder-like (ML), 281 (31.2%), and the combination (C) of these symptoms, 298 (33.1%). All patients were submitted to endoscopic evaluation, with two biopsies taken from the cardia and corpus, and four from the antrum of the stomach. All biopsy samples were studied for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) density, chronic inflammation, activity, intestinal metaplasia, atrophy, and the presence of lymphoid aggregates by histological examination. One antral biopsy was used for the rapid urease test. Tissue cagA status was determined by PCR from an antral biopsy specimen by a random sampling method. We also determined the serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and gastrin by the same method. Data were analyzed statistically by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and by analysis of variance. Hp and cagA positivity was significantly higher in the UL subgroup than in the others. The patients in the ML subgroup had the lowest Hp and cagA positivity and Hp density. The ML subgroup also showed the lowest level of Hp-induced inflammation among all subgroups. The serum levels of TNF-α and gastrin did not reveal any difference between groups. Our findings show a poor association of Hp with the ML subgroup of functional dyspepsia, but a stronger association with the UL and C subgroups.