Looking Beyond VIA to Improve Cervical Cancer Screening in Low Resource Settings.

BACKGROUND: The two prongs for cervical cancer prevention are vaccination for primary prevention and effective screening for preinvasive and early invasive disease. Until human papilloma virus DNA testing can be provided in low resource settings, screening with VIA is the most feasible option. Various innovative methods have been used to improve the diagnostic accuracy of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA). This study explores one such option.

METHOD: We modified VIA (VIA-Md) by using a magnifying lens mounted with battery operated light emitting devices (LEDs) to study the acetowhite areas on the cervix. The peak wavelength of the light from the LEDs was in the bluish white range. The results of VIA and VIA-Md were compared using colposcopy directed biopsy as the reference standard.

RESULT: The study was conducted in 273 eligible women. The sensitivity of VIA and VIA-Md for detecting CIN2 + lesions were 57.1% and 100% respectively. The specificity of VIA and VIA-Md were 99.2% and 89.5%; and p values using the colposcopy directed biopsy as the reference standard were 0.000 and 0.018 respectively. However, VIA-Md was also effective in identifying 21 out of the total 32 cases of chronic cervicitis identified by colposcopy directed biopsy.

CONCLUSION: VIA-Md appears to be a highly sensitive test for detection of CIN2 + lesions. However, because of concerns regarding lower specificity, VIA-Md can be used simultaneously with VIA as an effective tool for triaging women who need to be kept under close surveillance or who might benefit from local ablative therapy.