Background: Skin imaging devices to aid melanoma diagnosis have been developed in recent years but few have been assessed clinically.
Objectives: To investigate if a spectrophotometric skin imaging device, the SIAscope, could increase a dermatologist's ability to distinguish melanoma from nonmelanoma in a melanoma screening clinic.
Methods: Eight hundred and eighty-one pigmented lesions from 860 patients were prospectively assessed clinically and with the aid of the spectrophotometric device by a dermatologist. Assessment before and after spectrophotometric imaging was made and compared with histology, where available, or with the clinical diagnosis of a dermatologist with 20 years of experience.
Results: One hundred and seventy-nine biopsies were performed, with 31 melanomas diagnosed. Sensitivity and specificity for melanoma diagnosis before and after spectrophotometry were 94% and 91% vs. 87% and 91%, respectively, with no significant difference in the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (0.932 and 0.929).
Conclusions: Our study provides no evidence for the use of SIAscope by dermatologists to help distinguish melanoma from benign lesions.
Haniffa MA, Lloyd JJ, Lawrence CM. The use of a spectrophotometric intracutaneous analysis device in the real-time diagnosis of melanoma in the setting of a melanoma screening clinic. Br J Dermatol, 156:6, 1350-2.
Dr. Jim Lloyd, RVI Unit, Newcastle upon Tyne. Tel: +44 (0)191-233-6161.
Regional Medical Physics Department, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE7 7DN, UK.
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