An automated technology has been developed by researchers that combine imaging with digital analysis to help physicians detect melanoma at its early stage.
Melanoma is one of the most serious types of cancer that develops in the cells producing melanin. According to the researchers, Melanoma can be detected at an early stage with the help of an automated technology that combines imaging with digital analysis. The recent development by researchers can help diagnose cancer at an early stage when the symptoms start showing up.
According to this new approach, a series of computer programs processes the images of lesions that extracts information about the number of colors present in a growth. An overall risk score is generated which is called a Q-score. This Q-score indicates whether the growth is cancerous or not.
“There is a real need for standardization in the field of dermatology in how melanomas are evaluated. Detection through screening saves lives but is very challenging visually, and even when a suspicious lesion is extracted and biopsied, it is confirmed to be melanoma in only about 10 percent of cases”, said James Krueger, Professor at Rockefeller University the United States.
Daniel Gareau, an instructor in clinical investigation in the Krueger laboratory said, “The success of the Q-score in predicting melanoma is a marked improvement over competing technologies. I think this technology could help detect the disease earlier, which could save lives, and avoid unnecessary biopsies too”.
The tool was developed by feeding an equivalent batch of 60 photos of melanomas and benign growth into image processing programs. An imaging biomarker was developed for this purpose to measure the visual features of the growths.
Each biomarker gave a malignancy rating to the two groups of images and combined the data from each biomarker. The Q-score for each image was a value between zero and one indicating the lesser value had less probability of a lesion being cancerous.
The new development now will help to lessen the chances of cancer at an early stage by diagnosing it at the right time.
