Efficacy of optical coherence tomography in the triage of women with minor abnormal cervical cytology before colposcopy

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) for detecting cervical lesions in women with minor abnormal cytology results (atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL)). METHODS: A prospective study was conducted at gynecologic clinic from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021. The recruited women with cervical cytological findings of ASC-US or LSIL were inspected with OCT before colposcopy-directed cervical biopsy. The diagnostic performance of OCT, alone and in combination with high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) testing were evaluated to detect cervical intraepithelial neoplasia of grade 2 or worse (CIN2+)/CIN3 or worse (CIN3+). The rate of colposcopy referral and the immediate risk of CIN3+ of OCT were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 349 women with minor abnormal cervical cytology results were enrolled. For detection of CIN2+/CIN3+, the sensitivity and NPV of OCT were lower than those of hrHPV testing (CIN2+: 71.3% vs. 95.4%, 89.0% vs. 91.1%, P < 0.001; CIN3+: 75% vs. 93.8%, 96.5% vs. 95.6%, P < 0.001), but the specificity, accuracy and PPV were higher than those of hrHPV testing (CIN2+: 77.5% vs. 15.6%, 75.9% vs. 35.5%, 51.2% vs. 27.3%, P < 0.001; CIN3+: 69.4% vs. 13.6%, 69.9% vs. 20.9%, 19.8% vs. 9.9%, P < 0.001). OCT combined with hrHPV testing (CIN2+: 80.9%; CIN3+: 72.6%) showed higher specificity than that of OCT alone (P < 0.001). The colposcopy referral rate base on OCT classification was lower than that based on hrHPV testing (34.7% vs. 87.1%, P < 0.001). Patients with hrHPV-positive ASC-US and hrHPV-negative LSIL cytology, the immediate CIN3+ risk in OCT negative cases was less than 4%. CONCLUSIONS: OCT alone or combination with hrHPV testing shows good performance for detecting CIN2+/CIN3+ in patients with ASC-US/LSIL cytology. OCT is an effective method for colposcopy triage in women with hrHPV-positive ASC-US and hrHPV-negative LSIL cytology.