A pilot study of confocal laser endomicrosopy for staging and follow-up of gastrointestinal MALT-lymphoma: interim analysis of 15 consecutive cases

Introduction: To improve the diagnostic yield for gastrointestinal (GI) MALT-lymphoma during staging and follow-up, we investigated the diagnostic role of confocal laser endomicroscopy (CLE) which provides in-vivo histology of gastrointestinal diseases. Methods: In the context of a prospective clinical pilot trial (NCT01583699) all patients referred to our department for staging or follow-up of suspected upper-GI MALT-lymphoma underwent endosonography (EUS) followed by upper-GI endoscopy using a CLE-colonoscope. CLE-examinations were performed by one single endoscopist with great experience in CLE, blinded to th…