Rice Technologies for Cervical Cancer Screening and Diagnosis

The study aims to compare the accuracy of the lateral flow test to detect HPV at the POC with commercially available HPV test and to determine the diagnostic accuracy and reliability of a multimodal optical imaging system to detect cervical dysplasia, with the gold reference standard of histopathology.

This is a prospective, single-arm community trial involving 678 women aged 25 to 49 years for evaluation of positive cervical cancer screening tests (abnormal cytology, VIA+ and/or HPV+ test). Eligible women will be offered enrollment at the time of their consultation for a follow-up of their abnormal cervical cancer screening test. Participating centers include: 1) Mavalane Hospital and Health Center and 2) José Macamo General Hospital (José Macamo), 3) Maputo Central Hospital. After providing the informed consent, the participant will answer a short questionnaire that will include demographic information and medical background, including HIV status (HIV-negative, positive, or unknown, and, among women with HIV-positive tests, HIV viral load and CD4 cell count, if available), and cervical cancer screening test results. The patient will undergo a rapid urine - POC pregnancy test (within 14 days from the date of enrollment). Each participant will then receive instructions and will provide two cervico-vaginal samples taken by the patient herself (self-collection). The patient will then undergo a pelvic examination with two cervical samples taken by the healthcare provider. 7. A sample taken by the patient herself (self-collection) and a sample taken by the provider will be sent for an HPV test using GeneXpert. Similarly, samples taken by the patient herself (self-collection) and collected by the provider will be stored for the Rice POC rapid HPV test. The patient will then undergo multimodal imaging. Images/videos of the cervix will be obtained using the mobile colposcope/smartphone and HRME images/videos will be also obtained.