Confocal Endomicroscopy of Colorectal Polyps

Table 2

Systematic classification of colorectal lesions (eCLE based).

	General architecture	Cytonuclear features
Normal mucosa	Regular (uniform) architecture of surface and glandular epithelium	Epithelial cells are uniformly lined up along the basement membrane
	Regular “honey-comb” appearance of vascular pattern	Normal cell polarity of surface and glandular epithelium, normal aspect of mucin-producing goblet cells
Nonadenomatous polyps	Slightly disturbed architecture: enlarged, branch-like, elongated crypts	Epithelial cells are morphologically normal, preserved cell polarity
	Increased number of cells in the crypts	Depletion of goblet cells
	Mild alterations of vascular pattern
	Inflammatory infiltrate of lamina propria, decreased crypt/stroma ratio
Adenomatous polyps	Disturbed architecture: mild irregularity of the crypts, eventual villous transformation, increased crypt/stroma ratio, crypt destruction	Incomplete to lack of epithelial surface maturation
	Mild to moderate alterations of vascular pattern	Slightly cytonuclear atypia
		Islands of malignant cells