Andriod Device-Based Cervical Cancer Screening for Resource-Poor Settings

Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) is an effective, affordable and simple test for cervical cancer screening in resource-poor settings. But considerable expertise is needed to differentiate cancerous lesions from normal lesions, which is lacking in developing countries. Many studies have attempted automation of cervical cancer detection from cervix images acquired during the VIA process. These studies used images acquired through colposcopy or cervicography. However, colposcopy is expensive and hence is not feasible as a screening tool in resource-poor settings. Cervicography uses a digital camera to acquire cervix images which are subsequently sent to experts for evaluation. Hence, cervicography does not provide a real-time decision of whether the cervix is normal or not, during the VIA examination. In case the cervix is found to be abnormal, the patient may be referred to a hospital for further evaluation using Pap smear and/or biopsy. An android device with an inbuilt app to acquire images and provide instant results would be an obvious choice in resource-poor settings. In this paper, we propose an algorithm for analysis of cervix images acquired using an android device, which can be used for the development of decision support system to provide instant decision during cervical cancer screening. This algorithm offers an accuracy of 97.94%, a sensitivity of 99.05% and specificity of 97.16%.