A Decision-Making Approach in The Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulva Cancer

The uncontrollable growth of healthy cells in or around the vulva is known as vulva cancer. The most known risk factor for this type of cancer is the infection of the Human papillomavirus (HPV). Vulva cancer is most likely misdiagnosed as an inflammatory condition that leads to late treatment thus increasing the mortality rate of this type of cancer. Therefore, the current study examines the diagnosis and treatment techniques of vulva cancer considering a list of selected criteria using fuzzy Preference Ranking for Organization Method of Enrichment Evaluation (fuzzy PROMETHEE). The chosen diagnostic alternatives are cystoscopy, colposcopy, biopsy, Positron Emission Tomography (PET), Computed Tomography (CT) scan, and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) whereas the therapeutic alternatives are lymph node biopsy, vulvectomy, wide local excision, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. In the ranking of the diagnostic methods, punch biopsy ranked first with a net flow of 0.2548 whereas CT scan ranked sixth with a net flow of -0.2036. Furthermore, the treatment ranking resulted in lymph node biopsy as the first treatment alternative with a net flow of 0.5466 and immunotherapy as the seventh alternative with a net flow of -0.5388. The fuzzy PROMETHEE algorithm showed high effectiveness and precision in ranking the proposed alternatives. Thus, the results of this study will assist gynecologists and oncologists in making the appropriate decision for the early detection and treatment of vulva cancer.