Digital diagnostics: A computer application for lymph node metastases in cervical cancer

BACKGROUND: Since 2020, staging accuracy improvements in cervical cancer (CC) revealed that major errors occur due to missed metastases to regional lymph nodes. The presence or absence of metastases seriously affects the staging of cancer and, consequently, its treatment methods, since metastases make cancer inoperable.

AIM: To develop an application to help the doctor in predicting metastases to regional lymph nodes in CC, with the ability of installing on any personal computer regardless of the operating system (Windows, Linux, or Mac OS) and saving data about the patients.

METHODS: The development was performed on the .NET platform (framework v4.7.2), by means of C# language, based on a proprietary prognostic model using seven blood parameters such as erythrocyte sedimentation rate, erythrocytes, hemoglobin, fibrinogen, D-dimer, and platelet aggregation with adenosine diphosphate and soluble fibrin monomer complexes.

RESULTS: A window application was developed that automatically calculates the probability of metastases to regional lymph nodes in СС and provides the ability to save the data from the input form and the predicted value into TXT and/or CSV files. TXT and CSV formats are supported in various operating systems. The .txt file allows each individual patient’s prognosis results to be saved in a separate file for easy printing and attachment to the patient’s electronic or paper medical record. The CSV file format enables the aggregation of data of all patients by adding line-by-line data from the input form to the end of the file.

CONCLUSIONS: The developed application facilitates the process of using the patented formula to diagnose metastases to regional lymph nodes in СС at the early stages of examination, which allows choosing the optimal tactics and, consequently, improving the prognosis of the disease.