[A review of the clinical application of dyes in gastrointestinal chromoendoscopy, and their magistral formulation]

Abstract

Objective: To review the drug compounding of dyes employed in chromoendoscopy, and their clinical effectiveness.

Method: A literature search in Medline, Cochrane Library, and Micromedex was carried out with the term chromoendoscopy as a keyword, and the search was then repeated for each dye found in association with the term endoscopy. A number of monographs, scientific journals, and references quoted in selected papers were also reviewed. Papers collected were then classified according to their methodology.

Results: Ninety-six references were found, their original article being recovered for only 57 of these - 13 clinical trials, 21 case series, and 11 reviews. References were found for 7 dyes. Main indications, evidence of effectiveness, administration route, and drug formulation are described for each dye.

Conclusions: The number of papers involved is high, but their accessibility is limited. Evidence is overall scarce, but high in cases such as methylene blue for Barrett s esophagus, lugol in the detection of esophageal carcinoma, and indigo carmine for colonic hyperplastic polyp differentiation. Drug compounding is rather simple, but scarcely developed.