Aim/Objectives:- The aim of this study is to point the physical principles of virtual endoscopy and to evaluate the potentials of Virtual CT gastroscopy as a new modality for evaluation of gastric lesions by using conventional gastroscopy as the reference standard.
Background:- Virtual endoscopy is an emerging technique in radiology developed in the past decade .It is a computer-generated simulation of the endoscopic perspective obtained by processing computed tomography (CT) and is one of the applications of virtual reality in medicine.
Patients & Methods:- Total of 50 patients with prolonged upper gastrointestinal tract symptoms were included in this study. All patients were subjected to optical gastroendoscopy and virtual gastroscopy. these examinations were done at the internal medicine,tropical medicine and radiodiagnosis departments of benha university hospital. Sensitivity, specificity, and overall detection rates of both examinations were calculated and compared.
Statistical analysis:-
Finally all data from the study procedures were correlated together to assess the accuracy of detection of the different gastric lesions. Data management and statistical analysis were done.Numerical data was summarized as means and standard deviations. Agreement between conventional and virtual endoscopy in detection of different lesions was done using Kappa statistic.
Results:- The overall detection rate of Virtual gastroscopy in different types of gastric lesions in all patients was 79% (39/50) with sensitivity 88.1% , specificity 75% and p-value < 0.001.
Conclusion:- Despite its limitations, VG is a promising noninvasive method for evaluating gastric lesions which could lead to improved prognosis and planning optimal therapies.
Type of article:- Original article.