Added value of electrical impedance spectroscopy in adjunction of colposcopy: a prospective cohort study

ObjectiveTo assess whether electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) as an adjunctive technology enhances the performance of colposcopy.DesignProspective cohort study.SettingUniversity Hospital colposcopy clinic.ParticipantsColposcopy with EIS for 647 women and conventional colposcopy for 962 women.InterventionsComparison of the performance of colposcopy by referral cervical cytology in two cohorts, with and without EIS as an adjunctive technology.Outcome measuresPrevalence of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse (CIN2+), diagnostic testing accuracy to detect CIN2+ with and without EIS and their relative differences between cohorts.ResultsThe prevalence of CIN2+ varied between the cohorts according to referral cytology: 17.0% after abnormal squamous cells of unknown significance referral cytology in EIS cohort and 9.1% in the reference cohort, 16.5% and 18.9% after low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), 44.3% and 58.2% after atypical squamous cells, cannot exclude high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) (atypical squamous cells that cannot exclude HSIL), and 81.9% and 77.0% after HSIL cytology, respectively. Sensitivity to detect CIN2+ was higher in the EIS cohort, varying from 1.79 (95% CI 1.30 to 2.45) after LSIL referral cytology to 1.16 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.23) after HSIL referral cytology, with correspondingly lower specificity after any referral cytology.ConclusionsColposcopy with EIS had overall higher sensitivity but lower specificity to detect CIN2+ than conventional colposcopy. CIN2+ prevalence rates were, however, not consistently higher in the EIS cohort, suggesting innate differences between the cohorts or truly lower detection rates of CIN2+ for EIS, highlighting the need for randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of EIS.