SonoElastoColposcopy: A New Tool for Cervical Dysplasia Assessment

Area of Science:

• Gynecology
• Medical Imaging
• Oncology

Background:

• Colposcopy alone misses up to 30% of cervical dysplastic lesions.
• Cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) require accurate detection for timely treatment.
• There is a need for improved diagnostic methods beyond conventional colposcopy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the diagnostic capacity of SonoElastoColposcopy (SEC) with colposcopy for identifying cervical dysplastic lesions.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of shear wave elastography (SWE) in assessing cervical lesion stiffness.
• To determine if SEC improves the detection rate of high-grade cervical lesions.

Main Methods:

• A prospective observational study involving 84 patients scheduled for cervical conization.
• Patients underwent both conventional colposcopy and SEC with SWE measurements of endocervix and exocervix stiffness.
• Lesion localization by quadrant and comparison with cone biopsy pathology.

Main Results:

• SEC showed significantly higher elasticity in lesion areas (105.42 ± 36.32 KPa) versus healthy exocervix (19.98 ± 9.29 KPa) and endocervix (18.5 ± 9.07 KPa) (p < 0.0001).
• SEC demonstrated a concordance rate of 0.815, significantly higher than colposcopy's 0.456 (p < 0.05).
• Adequate colposcopy visualization was achieved in 95.12% of cases.

Conclusions:

• SonoElastoColposcopy (SEC) exhibits superior ability in identifying cervical dysplastic lesions compared to colposcopy.
• The integration of shear wave elastography enhances the diagnostic accuracy for precancerous cervical conditions.
• SEC represents a promising advancement in the detection of cervical dysplasia.