Bringing Cervical Cancer Screening Closer to Women: Feasibility of Artificial Intelligence and Remote Assessment in Primary Health Care.

IF 2.4 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

International Journal of Public Health Pub Date : 2026-03-05 eCollection Date: 2026-01-01 DOI:10.3389/ijph.2026.1609094

Saritha Shamsunder, Leela Digumarti, Bhagyalaxmi Nayak, Vasantha Dasari, Archana Mishra, Anita Kumar, Sony Nanda, Jugal Kishore, Nishi Choudhary

{"title":"Bringing Cervical Cancer Screening Closer to Women: Feasibility of Artificial Intelligence and Remote Assessment in Primary Health Care.","authors":"Saritha Shamsunder, Leela Digumarti, Bhagyalaxmi Nayak, Vasantha Dasari, Archana Mishra, Anita Kumar, Sony Nanda, Jugal Kishore, Nishi Choudhary","doi":"10.3389/ijph.2026.1609094","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Objective: The objective was to assess the feasibility of image-based methods for screening and triaging women in a single visit by: (i) a trained but inexperienced nurse, (ii) remote expert review via a web system, (iii) an artificial intelligence (AI) model.Methods: Sexually active, non-pregnant women (25-65 years) were screened using visual inspection method Cervical images captured with Smart Scope® CX were assessed independently by nurses, remote experts, and AI, with assessors blinded to each other. Referrals for colposcopy were based on remote expert evaluations followed by colposcopy/biopsy.Results: Among 871 women screened, AI identified 205 positives; experts identified 201. Colposcopy was performed on 69 women, 40 of them had a biopsy. Compared to histopathology, AI achieved 86.7% sensitivity, 92.0% specificity, and 90.0% accuracy (AUC = 0.894). Remote experts showed high sensitivity (86.7%) but low specificity (32%) and accuracy (52.5%).Conclusion: This study provides proof of concept for the feasibility of the AI-driven Smart Scope® CX test as a single-visit \"screen-and-triage\" tool in primary healthcare settings. Additionally, remote expert assessment demonstrating performance comparable to colposcopy indicates its potential as an alternative triage method in low-resource settings.","PeriodicalId":14322,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Public Health","volume":"71 ","pages":"1609094"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2026-03-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12999539/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/ijph.2026.1609094","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2026/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to assess the feasibility of image-based methods for screening and triaging women in a single visit by: (i) a trained but inexperienced nurse, (ii) remote expert review via a web system, (iii) an artificial intelligence (AI) model.

Methods: Sexually active, non-pregnant women (25-65 years) were screened using visual inspection method Cervical images captured with Smart Scope® CX were assessed independently by nurses, remote experts, and AI, with assessors blinded to each other. Referrals for colposcopy were based on remote expert evaluations followed by colposcopy/biopsy.

Results: Among 871 women screened, AI identified 205 positives; experts identified 201. Colposcopy was performed on 69 women, 40 of them had a biopsy. Compared to histopathology, AI achieved 86.7% sensitivity, 92.0% specificity, and 90.0% accuracy (AUC = 0.894). Remote experts showed high sensitivity (86.7%) but low specificity (32%) and accuracy (52.5%).

Conclusion: This study provides proof of concept for the feasibility of the AI-driven Smart Scope® CX test as a single-visit "screen-and-triage" tool in primary healthcare settings. Additionally, remote expert assessment demonstrating performance comparable to colposcopy indicates its potential as an alternative triage method in low-resource settings.

Abstract Image

查看原文本刊更多论文

使宫颈癌筛查更接近妇女：初级卫生保健中的人工智能和远程评估的可行性。

目的：目的是评估基于图像的方法在单次就诊中筛查和分诊妇女的可行性：(i)训练有素但缺乏经验的护士，（ii）通过网络系统进行远程专家审查，（iii）人工智能（AI）模型。方法：对性活跃、未怀孕的女性（25-65岁）采用目视检查方法进行筛查。使用Smart Scope®CX采集的宫颈图像由护士、远程专家和人工智能独立评估，评估者彼此不知情。阴道镜检查的转诊基于远程专家评估，随后进行阴道镜检查/活检。结果：在筛查的871名女性中，AI鉴定出205例阳性；专家鉴定出201种。对69名妇女进行了阴道镜检查，其中40人进行了活检。与组织病理学相比，人工智能的敏感性为86.7%，特异性为92.0%，准确率为90.0% （AUC = 0.894）。远程专家诊断灵敏度高（86.7%），特异度低（32%），准确率低（52.5%）。结论：本研究为人工智能驱动的智能范围®CX测试在初级卫生保健机构中作为单次“筛查和分诊”工具的可行性提供了概念证明。此外，远程专家评估显示性能可与阴道镜检查相媲美，表明其在低资源环境下作为一种替代分诊方法的潜力。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

International Journal of Public Health 医学-公共卫生、环境卫生与职业卫生

CiteScore

4.20

自引率

2.20%

发文量

269

审稿时长

12 months

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Public Health publishes scientific articles relevant to global public health, from different countries and cultures, and assembles them into issues that raise awareness and understanding of public health problems and solutions. The Journal welcomes submissions of original research, critical and relevant reviews, methodological papers and manuscripts that emphasize theoretical content. IJPH sometimes publishes commentaries and opinions. Special issues highlight key areas of current research. The Editorial Board''s mission is to provide a thoughtful forum for contemporary issues and challenges in global public health research and practice.