Table 2.

Vital stains in endoscopy

Stain	What is stained	Current use
Vital stains
Methylene blue	Small/large intestinal cells	Chronic ulcerative colitis
		Gastric intestinal metaplasia and early cancer gastric cancer
		Colon polyps/neoplasms
Lugol's iodine	Normal glycogen containing squamous cells	Oesophageal squamous cell cancer and dysplasia
Cresyl violet	Small and large intestine crypts	Colonic polyps/neoplasms
	Oesophagus and gastric mucosa	Barrett`s esophagus
		Early gastric cancers
Contrast stains
Indigo carmine	Cells are not stained, appearances caused by contrast pooling	Chronic ulcerative colitis
		Gastric intestinal metaplasia and early cancer gastric cancer
		Colon polyps/neoplasms
Acetic acid	Reversible interaction between the acetic acid and the cell structures	Barrett´s esopahus