Techniques Using the Hemoglobin Index of the Gastric Mucosa

Objectives

Color changes seen at endoscopy are important for gastrointestinal endoscopic diagnosis. Quantification of the color information is useful for a scientific assessment of endoscopic color images. Since hemoglobin is the predominant pigment in the gastrointestinal mucosa, measurement of the hemoglobin content is a reasonable method for quantifying the color in gastrointestinal endoscopic images. Recently, Tsuji et al. have developed a technique for measuring mucosal hemoglobin content using electronic endoscopic imaging data [1]. The measure is called the “index of hemoglobin” (IHb). In this article, we describe the clinical applications and the usefulness of the technique. Currently, the technique is being used for two main purposes: image analysis and image processing, as shown in Table [1].

Table 1 Image analysis and image processing using the index of hemoglobin (IHb) Image analysis: quantification of color differences seen at endoscopy a) Measurement of the mucosal hemoglobin content by calculation of the IHbb) Two-dimensional display of the distribution of hemoglobin, using an IHb color chart Image processing: adaptive IHb color-enhancement a) Ordinary endoscopic image: enhancement of the difference in color between the lesion and the background mucosa, by increasing the difference in the degree of redness and by clarifying the difference in the texture of the rednessb) Magnified endoscopic image: clear visualization of mucosal microvascular architecturec) Combination of ordinary and magnified endoscopy

References

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