Implementing standard-of-care cryotherapy or electrosurgical excision to treat cervical precancers is challenging in resource-limited settings. An affordable technological alternative that is as effective as standard-of-care techniques would greatly improve access to treatment. This randomized controlled trial aims to demonstrate the noninferiority efficacy of a portable, battery-driven thermal ablation (TA) device compared to cryotherapy and electrosurgical excision (large loop excision of transformation zone (LLETZ)) to treat cervical precancer in a screen-and-treat program in Zambia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Cancellations of elective surgery in low-and middle-income countries (LMIC) are common and a major hindrance for patients who are in need of surgical therapeutic modalities. This is especially important in the context of scaling up needed surgical interventions for gynaecological cancer care. There is a knowledge gap in the literature related to cancellation of gynaecologic oncology surgeries in LMIC, where there is enormous need for this specific cancer surgical capacity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: WHO has recommended HPV testing for cervical screening where it is practical and affordable. If used, it is important to both clarify and implement the clinical management of positive results. We estimated the performance in Lusaka, Zambia of a novel screening/triage approach combining HPV typing with visual assessment assisted by a deep-learning approach called automated visual evaluation (AVE).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) is a low-cost approach for cervical cancer screening used in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but, similar to other visual tests like histopathology, is subjective and requires sustained training and quality assurance. We developed, trained, and validated an artificial-intelligence-based "Automated Visual Evaluation" (AVE) tool that can be adapted to run on smartphones to assess smartphone-captured images of the cervix and identify precancerous lesions, helping augment performance of VIA.
Design: Prospective study.
Objective: Thermal ablation (TA) was implemented in public sector cervical cancer prevention services in Zambia in 2012. Initially introduced as a treatment modality in primary healthcare clinics, it was later included in mobile outreach campaigns and clinical research trials. We report the feasibility, acceptability, safety, and provider uptake of TA in diverse clinical contexts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate how the influence of traditional Chiefs can be leveraged to promote access to cervical cancer prevention services in rural Zambia.
Methods: A retrospective review of outcome data was conducted for all screening outreach events that occurred in Zambian Chiefdoms between October 4, 2015, and October 3, 2016. Members of the health promotion team of the Cervical Cancer Prevention Program in Zambia visited local Chiefs to inform them of the importance of cervical cancer prevention.
PLoS One
January 2016
Background: Very few efforts have been undertaken to scale-up low-cost approaches to cervical cancer prevention in low-resource countries.
Methods: In a public sector cervical cancer prevention program in Zambia, nurses provided visual-inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and cryotherapy in clinics co-housed with HIV/AIDS programs, and referred women with complex lesions for histopathologic evaluation. Low-cost technological adaptations were deployed for improving VIA detection, facilitating expert physician opinion, and ensuring quality assurance.