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Teledermoscopy Accurate for Detecting Skin Cancers

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Nov 20, 2024.

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2024 -- Teledermoscopy has high accuracy for detecting skin cancers, according to a research letter published online Nov. 9 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Jenne P. Ingrassia, from New York Medical College in Valhalla, and colleagues conducted a prospective diagnostic accuracy study to compare the accuracy of telemedicine-based skin cancer detection to in-person evaluations. In addition, off-label use of Nevisense, a device to assess melanocytic skin lesions suspicious for melanoma for use in dermatologists' offices, was evaluated for improving accuracy of teledermoscopy. A total of 147 participants with 375 self-identified skin lesions were assessed.

The researchers found that 97 percent of the skin lesions were benign. The most common diagnoses were seborrheic keratosis, common melanocytic nevus, solar lentigo, other, and hemangioma (38, 19, 10, 8, and 4 percent, respectively). Overall, 13 participants had a malignant neoplasm, with two melanomas. Eleven of 13 skin cancers were detected in face-to-face examination, with accuracy of 93 percent. The TeleTeam detected 11/13 skin cancers with clinical photos and dermoscopy alone (accuracy of 91 percent). The TeleTeam detected 12/13 skin cancers with Nevisense, but due to lower specificity, a high prevalence of benign lesions, and the rarity of atypical nevi and early-stage melanomas, accuracy decreased to 83 percent. Overall, 89 percent of participants who completed a postintervention questionnaire agreed or strongly agreed that they would feel more at ease having their worrisome spot examined by a teledermatologist versus not examined.

"Our results support the potential utility of teledermoscopy to safely triage patient- and primary-care clinician-identified skin lesions for in-person evaluation," the authors write.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

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Posted November 2024

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