Objectives: Linked color imaging (LCI) helps to differentiate minor mucosal changes, which can be objectively judged by red-green-blue (RGB) pixel brightness. However, whether this color analytic model based on pixel brightness can be applied to diagnose H. pylori infection remains unknown. Methods: Consecutive adult patients with indications and underwent esophagogastroduodenoscopy for the first time were enrolled in the training (n=166) and validation (n=79) set. Demographic and clinical characteristics were recorded. Target region in gastric antrum was pictured before biopsy for rapid urea test, and pixel brightness was calculated by Matlab software. Results: In training set, 25 patients had H. pylori infection. Pixel brightness for R and B in patients with H. pylori infection were greatly higher than those in patients without H. pylori infection (R 210.203 ± 27.233 vs. 196.401 ± 29.018, P=0.043; B 127.621 ± 26.112 vs. 125.334 ± 27.812, P=0.025). At the cut-off of R = 210 and B = 127, the specificity and sensitivity was 0.696 and 0.701. In validation set, 10 patients had H. pylori infection and the findings were consistent with those in training set. Conclusion: Color analytic model based on pixel brightness under LCI was useful in diagnosing H. pylori infection in gastric antrum. Keywords: H. pylori infection; esophagogastroduodenoscopy; linked color imaging; diagnostic efficacy; pixel brightness value.
Corresponding Author: Yang Xu