Feasibility of Using Mobile Smartphone Camera as an Imaging Device for Screening of Cervical Cancer in a Low-resource Setting

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective The aim of this study is to determine the feasibility of a screening method for cervical cancer using an application developed on smartphone to aid visual inspection with acetic acid. Materials and methods A prospective study was carried out in 230 women in the Department of Gynaecology, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India. These women were divided into two groups. Among the first group, screen positive women (n = 28) were examined by two gynecologists. In the second group (n = 202), health care workers screened women in a mobile van. The two groups were examined using the smartphone and digital colposcope. Abnormal findings were confirmed by liquid-based cytology and histopathology. The image quality of ColpPhon® was compared with colposcopic images as the gold standard. Kappa was used for comparison of ColpPhon® and colposcopic findings for final diagnosis. Results Among the 230 women screened, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) was diagnosed in six cases by histopathology (CIN 2/3 in five and CIN 1 in one). These six women belonged to the group of 28 women examined in the colposcopy clinic. Both colposcope and ColpPhon® were able to identify these six women. The individual image quality parameters for ColpPhon® were slightly inferior to the colposcope. The overall image clarity had an agreement in 82% (184/225) as being either good or excellent. The diagnosis made on images acquired from each device had an agreement in 90% (208/230) of the cases. Conclusion This study demonstrates feasibility of incorporating a smartphone device to capture images of the cervix for improving cervical cancer screening in resource-poor countries. How to cite this article Bagga R, Suri V, Srinivasan R, Khandelwal N, Keswarpu P, Naik SK, Chandrasekhar V, Gupta L, Paul S. Feasibility of Using Mobile Smartphone Camera as an Imaging Device for Screening of Cervical Cancer in a Lowresource Setting. J Postgrad Med Edu Res 2016;50(2):69-74.