Measuring cervical ectopy: Direct visual assessment versus computerized planimetry

Computerized planimetry versus clinical assessment for the measurement of cervical ectopia

“…Another approach has been to project color slides onto a screen and have raters visually estimate the proportion of ectopia from the projected images. 22 More recent studies have used computer planimetry to measure ,cervical ectopia. In these studies acetic add was applied to the cervix and cervical images were taken with a specially designed 35-mm camera (Cerviscope; NTL Processing Inc, Fenton, Mo) with a fixed-magnification macrolens and a built-in ring flash.22, 23 A rater then used digitized images to oucline the area of ectopia on the computer screen, and the outlined area was measured with an image analysis program.…”

Uterine cervical ectopy during reproductive age: Cytological and microbiological findings

“…Based on the definition of cervical ectopy as the clinical observation of the presence of glandular cylindrical epithelium in the ectocervix, this research study used a clinical assessment and a colposcopy, using 3% acetic acid and Lugol's solution, as tools for diagnosis. According to Gilmour et al, 13 if time and resources make modern diagnosis difficult, the direct visual assessment after application of 5% acetic acid appears to provide comparable estimates of ectopy; therefore, we preferred an assessment using colposcopy to diagnose cervical ectopy. The groups with and without ectopy were different.…”

Assessing the Relationship Between Cervical Ectopy and HIV Susceptibility: Implications for HIV Prevention in Women

“…Some studies have used other methods to assess ectopy, such as cervical photographs read without knowledge of patient status . It has been suggested that computerized planimetry may provide a more consistent estimate of the percent of ectopy; however, in resource‐limited settings in which computer planimetry is difficult, direct visual assessment after application of 5% acetic acid can provide comparable estimates . The misclassification of ectopy may also explain the discrepancy of findings across studies due to the lack of standardized criteria in addition to variations in age and parity of participants.…”