Cervical screening and artificial intelligence

Abstract

Currently, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in gynecology is at the initial stage of its implementation. To date, cervical cancer (cervical cancer) is the second most common malignant tumor. Untimely diagnosis of the disease has a serious impact primarily in remote regions of the country, which is directly related to the lack of laboratory equipment, difficulties in transporting materials, as well as the lack of highly qualified cytologists and colposcopists. AI-based programs for reading cytological images, HPV identification and colposcopy have been created to date, which makes it possible to increase the availability of visual screening for women throughout the country, including those living in remote regions. In addition, it helps to improve the timely diagnosis of breast cancer in women through cervical screening using AI systems. The review presents the main categories of AI, including machine learning methods, and includes foreign and domestic research on AI-based technologies for performing cytological examination and colposcopy, published between 2019 and 2024. The search for literature sources was conducted on the PubMed platform. The search queries included the following keywords: “cervical screening”, “artificial intelligence in gynecology”, “artificial intelligence in colposcopy”, “artificial intelligence in cervical screening". It was found that AI programs for the interpretation of Pap smear (Al-Pap) are 5.8% more sensitive to the detection of CIN2+ than manual counting with a slight decrease in specificity. In studies based on AI processing of colposcopic images, the percentage of coincidence between the results and the histological conclusion was higher than when interpreted by specialist doctors by 16.64%. When identifying HSIL+ with artificial intelligence, a higher sensitivity was revealed, 11.5% higher than the conclusion of the colposcopist, while the specificity was practically comparable. The Russian Federation is actively developing a domestic digital portable colposcope on the basis of the Samara State Medical University of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, together with specialists from the Almazov National Medical Research Center of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, as well as the Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University for reading and interpreting colposcopic images.