AIM:To determine whether magnified observation of short-segment Barrett’s esophagus(BE)is useful for the detection of specialized intestinal metaplasia(SIM).METHODS:Thirty patients with suspected short-segment BE underwent magnifying endoscopy up to×80.The magnified images were analyzed with respect to their pit-patterns,which were simultaneously classified into five epithelial types[Ⅰ(small round),Ⅱ(straight),Ⅲ(long oval),Ⅳ(tubular),Ⅴ(villous)]by Endo’s classification.Then,a 0.5%solution of methylene blue(MB)was sprayed over columnar mucosa.The patterns of the magnified image and MB staining were analyzed.Biopsies were obtained from the regions previously observed by magnifying endoscopy and MB chromoendoscopy.RESULTS:Three of five patients with a typeⅤ(villous)epithelial pattern had SIM,whereas 21 patients with a non-typeⅤepithelial patterns did not have SIM.The sensitivity,specificity,accuracy,positive predictive value,and negative predictive value of pit-patterns in detecting SIM were 100%,91.3%,92.3%,60%and100%,respectively(P=0.004).Three of the 12 patients with positive MB staining had SIM,whereas 14patients with negative MB staining did not have SIM.The sensitivity,specificity,accuracy,positive predictive value,and negative predictive value of MB staining in detecting SIM were 100%,60.9%,65.4%,25%and100%,respectively(P=0.085).The specificity and accuracy of pit-pattern evaluation were significantly superior compared with MB staining for detecting SIM by comparison with the exact McNemar’s test(P=0.0391).CONCLUSION:The magnified observation of a shortsegment BE according to the mucosal pattern and its classification can be predictive of SIM. AIM: To determine whether magnified observation of short-segment Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is useful for the detection of specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM) .METHODS: Thirty patients with suspected short-segment BE underwent magnifying endoscopy up to × 80.The magnified images were analyzed with respect to their pit-patterns, which were classified into five epithelial types [Ⅰ (small round), Ⅱ (long oval), Ⅳ (tubular), Ⅴ (villous)] by Endo’s classification. Then, a 0.5% solution of methylene blue (MB) was sprayed over columnar mucosa. The patterns of the magnified image and MB charges were analyzed. Biopsies were obtained from the regions previously observed by magnifying endoscopy and MB chromoendoscopy .RESULTS: Three of five patients with a type V (villous) epithelial pattern had SIM, and 21 patients with a non-type Vepithelial patterns did not have SIM. sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of pit-patterns Thompson of the 12 patients with positive MB staining had SIM, whereas 14patients with negative MB staining did not have SIM. sensitivity , specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of MB staining in detecting SIM were 100%, 60.9%, 65.4%, 25% and 100%, respectively (P = 0.085) were significantly superior compared to MB staining for detecting SIM by comparison with the exact McNemar’s test (P = 0.0391) .CONCLUSION: The magnified observation of a short segment BE according to the mucosal pattern and its classification can be predictive of SIM.