Intestinal Research · Mar 18, 2026

Prospective evaluation of artificial intelligence-assisted monitoring of the effective withdrawal time on adenoma detection

By Lui TKL, Lam CP, Tsui VW et al.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Standard withdrawal time (SWT) is a recognized colonoscopy quality metric but may not capture mucosal examination quality. We developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-derived metric, effective withdrawal time (EWT), to quantify clear mucosal visualization. This study prospectively evaluated EWT versus SWT on adenoma detection rate (ADR) and other metrics. METHODS: In this prospective single-center study, patients undergoing colonoscopy were enrolled. EWT was calculated in real-time using an AI system with endoscopists blinded to results. Multivariable analyses assessed the association of EWT and SWT with binary (e.g., ADR) and count outcomes (e.g., adenoma or polyp per colonoscopy [APC or PPC]), adjusting for patient and procedural characteristics. RESULTS: We analyzed 193 colonoscopies by 16 endoscopists. After adjustment, each 1-minute EWT increase was associated with higher odds of adenoma detection (ADR: odds ratio [OR], 1.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15-1.67) and a > 2-fold increase in adenomas detected per procedure (APC: incidence rate ratio [IRR], 2.14; 95% CI, 1.97-2.32). Both parameters were significantly better with EWT than SWT (OR, 1.38 vs. 1.06; P< 0.01 for ADR; IRR, 2.14 vs. 1.15; P= 0.02 for APC). EWT demonstrated stronger correlation with APC (R2 = 0.97) and PPC (R2 = 0.96) than SWT (R2 = 0.67 and 0.68, respectively; P< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: AI-derived EWT is a novel quality indicator reflecting mucosal examination thoroughness, serving as a stronger, more independent predictor of ADR than SWT. (Clinical Trials.gov identifier: NCT06063720).

doi.org/10.5217/ir.2025.00262Open accessPubMed 41844373Biomarkers