Scientific Calendar July 2026
OSNA vs. ultrastaging: improving efficiency and patient care in gynaecological cancers
If you had to describe OSNA in one word, what would it be?*
Accuracy
Efficiency
Sensitivity
Specificity
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Notice
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*This answer refers to the testimonial given by Dr Juan Céspedes Manterola, MD, Gynaecologist, and Dr Ibon Jaunarena Marin, MD, Gynaecologist; Gynaecologic Oncology Unit, Gynaecology and Obstetrics Service, Donostia Hospital, Spain on the printed Scientific Calendar version.
Scientific Background
The following statements were taken from an interview with Prof. Francesco Fanfani, Chief of the Endometrial Cancer Surgery Unit at Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic, Rome, Italy, in which he describes his experience with the OSNA solution.
“In terms of sensitivity, OSNA is comparable to ultrastaging, with the literature consistently supporting its performance. OSNA offers a fully standardised approach, providing a machine‑generated numerical value that directly corresponds to a diagnosis and avoids reliance on human microscopic interpretation. Moreover, the OSNA test takes approximately 30–45 minutes, making it considerably faster than ultrastaging and allowing a faster postoperative diagnosis even when not used intraoperatively.
With OSNA, we might reduce the time for histological examination of the uterus from two weeks to 4–7 days. This represents a clear advantage when communicating the patient’s diagnosis and treatment plan, and helps reduce their anxiety while awaiting the results.
Notably, we had one case of a patient with microinvasive endometrial pathology, a condition that today would not normally require lymph node assessment. Using OSNA, however, we identified a lymph node micrometastasis. This is certainly a rare event, but, rare as it is, it would have been missed if the patient had not undergone molecular lymph node analysis, with potential prognostic consequences.”
If you had to describe OSNA in one word, what would you choose? “Fascinating.”
OSNA in gynaecological cancers 1–4
OSNA clinical Performance in gynaecological cancers
Accuracy comparable to histopathology
- High sensitivity and specificity
- Enhances conventional pathology in detecting lymph node (LN) metastasis
- Whole-node analysis eliminates sampling bias and reduces the false-negative rate
Simplified, standardised and optimised workflow
- Standardised and user-independent
- Turnaround time (TAT) reduced from two days to 30 minutes
- More cost-effective than ultrastaging 4
- Time-saving for technicians and clinicians 4
No delay in patient management
- Definitive nodal status during surgery
- Reduced time to report and, potentially, to treatment
References
[1] Togami S et al. (2022): J Gynecol Oncol. 33(2)
[2] Diestro MD et al. (2021): Cancers (Basel). 13(17)
[3] Fanfani F et al. (2020): Int J Gynecol Cancer. 30(3)
[4] Restaino S. et al. (2025): Eur J Surg Oncol 51(9)
