Digital Assessment of the Reproductive Tract Versus Colposcopy for Directing Biopsies in Women With Abnormal Pap Smears

Abstract

Objective: 

This study aimed to compare digital camera assessment of the reproductive tract (DART) to colposcopy for the evaluation of abnormal Pap smears.

Materials and Methods: 

Participants included 207 women with abnormal Pap smears. Colposcopy and DART were performed on each patient by separate examiners with the goal of lesion detection. Analysis was performed per patient and per biopsy.

Results: 

Patients had an average of 2.9 biopsies. Forty-two patients and 81 biopsies were positive for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2+. Both DART and colposcopy detected 41 (97.6%) of 42 patients (95% CI = 85.9%-99.9%). Digital camera assessment of the reproductive tract detected 66/81 (81.4%; CI = 70.7%-88.9%) and colposcopy detected 69/81 (85.2%; CI = 73.2%-92.4%) of biopsies that were cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2+.

Conclusions: 

Digital camera assessment of the reproductive tract detects high-grade lesions of the cervix with similar sensitivity to colposcopy. It holds great promise to expand cervical cancer precursor lesion detection in areas with limited resources.

In Brief

Digital assessment of the reproductive tract is a new, low-technology method, with similar sensitivity to colposcopy, to aid in directing cervical biopsies in women with abnormal Pap smears.