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Updated: May 25, 2026
Use of Crystal Violet to Improve Visual Cytopathic Effect-based Reading for Viral Titration using TCID50 Assays
Published on: February 12, 2022
Virtual crystal violet chromoendoscopy: a digital alternative to dye-based staining
Hideaki Kinugasa1, Sakiko Hiraoka1, Masahiro Tomiya2
1Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
Background And Aims:
Routine use of crystal violet (CV) chromoendoscopy for pit pattern-based colorectal lesion characterization is limited by safety concerns. We developed and clinically validated an artificial intelligence (AI)-based virtual CV (vCV) chromoendoscopy technique that reproduces CV-equivalent images without dye.
Methods:
Using an unsupervised image-to-image translation framework (UVCGAN v2), we trained a model to transform endoscopic images into vCV images. This retrospective study included 71 colorectal lesions with paired CV and narrow-band imaging (NBI) scans. Six endoscopists independently evaluated randomized magnifying endoscopy images of vCV, CV, and NBI.
Results:
Interobserver agreement for pit pattern interpretation with vCV was similar to that with conventional CV, with minimal differences. Quantitative image analysis demonstrated morphologic fidelity between vCV and CV. The diagnostic accuracy of vCV for histologic prediction was similar to CV and numerically higher than NBI.
Conclusions:
AI-based vCV chromoendoscopy can replicate the diagnostic interpretability of conventional CV staining without dye application.
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