Development and validation of novel digitalized cervicography system

Abstract

ObjectiveDigital cervicography systems would be expected to reduce the costs of film cervicography, and provide the opportunity for "telemedicine-based" screening. We aimed to develop web-based digital cervicography system, and validate it compared with conventional film cervicography.MethodsA hundred cases from five centers were prospectively included, and cervical images (analogue, digitalized by scanning analogue, and digital) were taken separately using both analogue (Cerviscope) and digital camera (Dr. Cervicam) in each patient. Nine specialists evaluated the three kinds of images of each case with time interval between evaluations of each image. To validate novel digitalized system, we analyzed intra-observer variance among evaluation results of three kinds of images.ResultsSixty-three cases were finally analyzed after excluding technically defective cases that cannot be evaluable on analogue images. The generalized kappa for analogue versus digital image was 0.83, for analogue versus scanned image 0.72, and for digital versus scanned image was 0.71; all were in excellent consensus.ConclusionDigitalized cervicography system can be substituted for the film cervicography very reliably, and can be used as a promising telemedicine tool for cervical cancer screening.

Colposcopy telemedicine: live versus static swede score and accuracy in detecting CIN2+, a cross-sectional pilot study

“…Previous landmark papers using the ASCUC/LSIL triage study for cervical cancer (ALTS) data questioned the accuracy of static images in detecting borderline lesions [ 28 , 29 ]. However, others have shown that the development of smartphones (not yet developed at the time of the above study) and static images can be a useful adjunct to colposcopy [ 8 , 12 , 32 – 34 ]. Gauthier et al [ 12 ] performed a cross-sectional study using photographs (taken with 13 megapixels, autofocus and 2X optical zoom) as an adjunct to VIA and VILI.…”

“…While not specific to cervical cancer screening, previous studies have found a positive association between telemedicine and increased access to specialized care, decreased costs to patient, reduced treatment costs at earlier stage of disease, and overall increased socioeconomic returns [ 7 ]. With increasing access to internet and mobile phone connectivity, telemedicine offers potential solutions for improving access and quality of cervical screening for women in low-resource settings as well as those who have reduced access to screening services due to geographical station [ 8 – 12 ].…”

Predictive value of ‘Smartscopy’ for the detection of preinvasive cervical lesions during the COVID-19 pandemic: a diagnostic study

“…Digital cervicography is an alternative method of cervical cancer screening [ 20 , 21 ]. It consists of a USB-pen camera and can connect to “Android” devices.…”

False Negative Results in Cervical Cancer Screening—Risks, Reasons and Implications for Clinical Practice and Public Health

“…A few decades ago, cervicography, based on taking pictures of the cervix, which were subsequently evaluated by trained colposcopists, was proposed as a useful tool [ 192 ]. More recently, attempts were made to digitize cervigrams, in order to facilitate their storage and usage [ 193 ]. The combination of deep-learning algorithms on collected cervical images and the medical history of patients allowed us to develop automated visual evaluation (AVE) application that supports providers in proper decision-making, regarding patients’ management, especially in LMIC.…”