Objectives: To determine the sensitivity and specificity of optical coherence tomography (OCT) as an adjunct to unaided visual inspection using acetic acid (VIA) in the detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 2 (CIN 2) in a real-time clinical evaluation.

Background: This clinical study was a prospective cross-sectional comparative trial that screened 1000 patients (aged 30-50 years) in a low-resource setting. Women with abnormal cervical cytology or positive human papillomavirus (HPV) tests were referred for further evaluation including VIA, OCT imaging, colposcopy, and cervical biopsies.

Methods: The VIA diagnoses were coded by quadrant. The OCT was then performed in all VIA-positive areas and at the squamocolumnar junction in all 4 quadrants. All patients were colposcoped; assessed by quadrant with biopsies at 2, 4, 8, and 10 o'clock; all abnormal areas were biopsied; and endocervical curettage was performed. Data were analyzed using generalized estimating equations and logistic regression.

Results: Of the 1000 patients, 175 (17.5%) were HPV positive, 93 (9.3%) had abnormal cervical cytology greater than or equal to atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance, and 211 (21.1%) were either HPV positive or had abnormal cytology. The VIA, OCT, colposcopy, and biopsies were completed on 183 (86.7%) of 211 women. For VIA alone, the sensitivity and specificity in detecting lesions greater than or equal to CIN 2 was 43% and 96%. With the addition of OCT, the sensitivity increases to 62% with a specificity of 80%.

Conclusions: With the addition of OCT, the sensitivity of VIA increased in all analyses for the detection of greater than or equal to CIN II, with a loss in specificity. We hope that the potential of this technology will be realized when a computer algorithm is generated to aid in image interpretation.