Progress in magnifying colonoscopy: Road to optical biopsy.

Ultra-magnifying endoscopy is used to conduct an optical biopsy that provides accurate pathological prediction based on a histologic-equivalent image.7 There are two methods of producing the cellular image: confocal laser endomicroscopy and endocytoscopy. This motivation prompted another revolution in magnifying endoscopy, resulting in the development of an ultra-magnification endoscopy system to acquire images at the cellular level I in vivo i . One of these goals is so-called "optical biopsy", which provides an accurate diagnosis comparable with the pathological diagnosis without the need for a biopsy. Magnifying endoscopy has become available worldwide and is now an essential diagnostic modality for gastrointestinal endoscopy; however, its development took several decades and was not easy. [Extracted from the article]