A new approach to the observation of minute changes of the colonic mucosa by means of magnifying colonoscope, type CF-MB-M (Olympus)

A newly devised magnifying colonoscope (Olympus CF-MB-M) incorporates a capacity to enlarge mucosal surface details by a factor of 10 times. The image of fine surface features is enhanced by applying methylene-blue dye. This report describes the use of the new instrument in 120 normal subjects, in 104 patients with polypoid lesions, and in 60 patients with inflammatory diseases. The magnified, enhanced image, when compared with that obtained by the conventional colonoscope, permits better definition of the stage and severity of inflammatory reactions and correlates with the histologic types of polypoid lesions.