VIDEO: WATS3D brush helps diagnose aggressive precancerous esophageal lesions

PHILADELPHIA — In this exclusive video from the American College of Gastroenterology Annual Meeting, Nicholas J. Shaheen, MD, MPH, FACG, from the University of North Carolina, talks about a study he presented on the WATS3D system.

“The main idea of WATS3D is to help us check the esophagus for precancerous lesions,” he told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “We put an endoscope down into the esophagus, and we use this stiff brush to pick up a sampling of cells throughout a wide area of Barrett’s esophagus.”

Using data from patients who had at least two WATS3D (CDx Medical) samples six months apart, Shaheen and colleagues determined progression rates from different kinds of lesions to esophageal adenocarcinoma. Then, they compared the rates from WATS3D with rates confirmed from traditional forceps biopsy samples.

They also focused on the importance of crypt dysplasia, a kind of lesion that the WATS3D brush picks up that is usually missed by forceps biopsy. Investigators determined that the progression rate for crypt dysplasia to esophageal adenocarcinoma was about 2% per year.

“Crypt dysplasia is potentially dangerous,” Shaheen said. “This is a lesion we want to know about.”

Disclosure: Shaheen reports financial ties to CDx Medical.