This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
WATS3D helps increase detection of esophageal dysplasia, Barrett’s
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Adding Wide Area Transepithelial Sampling with 3D Tissue Analysis to standard targeted and random forceps biopsy helped increase detection of esophageal dysplasia, as well as Barrett’s esophagus, according to research published in Diseases of the Esophagus.
“With the results of this and other published studies, the evidence is overwhelming that we should be using WATS3D [CDx Diagnostics] along with forceps biopsies to evaluate all of our BE patients,” Michael S. Smith, MD, MBA, chief of gastroenterology and hepatology as Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai St. Luke’s Hospital, said in a press release. “We should not rely solely on techniques like forceps sampling, which clearly miss evidence of progression toward esophageal adenocarcinoma, an often-fatal disease.”
Smith and colleagues tested the WATS3D system in a multicenter trial in which investigators alternated using forceps biopsy or WATS to take samples from 12,899 patients. They determined the increase in detection rate using WATS by comparing the number of cases with disease found only on WATS with the number of cases found on samples taken with forceps biopsy.
Smith and colleagues found that forceps biopsy alone identified 88 cases of esophageal dysplasia, while the addition of WATS3D found an additional 213 cases, an increase in overall detection of 242% (95% CI, 191%–315%).
In the secondary measure of BE, random and targeted forceps biopsy identified 1,684 cases, and the addition of WATS3D helped identify an additional 2,570 cases. That represented an increase in overall detection of 153% (95% CI, 144%–162%).
Mark Rutenberg, CEO of CDx Diagnostics, said the findings help show that WATS3D can fill an important role in the screening and surveillance of esophageal dysplasia and BE.
“The prior standard of care forced gastroenterologists to rely on chance, hoping that one of their small random forceps biopsies will happen to land on a highly focal area of advanced precancer that may exist in their patient’s esophagus,” he said in the release. “Now that we can more easily treat esophageal precancer through endoscopic ablation, the remaining obstacle to preventing the most rapidly growing cancer in the U.S. is to more reliably identify those GERD and Barrett’s patients with these still harmless but advanced precancerous changes so that we can treat them in time to prevent their progression to adenocarcinoma.” – by Alex Young
Disclosures: Smith reports that he has served as a consultant for CDx Diagnositcs. Rutenberg is employed by CDx Diagnositcs.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts