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Reflection makes Skin Cancer Diagnosis easier

February 18, 2000

A new way of detecting skin cancers using light reflected from pigmented skin lesions is described this week in the Institute of Physics journal, Physics in Medicine and Biology. Scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital NHS Trust studied the spectra of light reflected from skin lesions. As benign and malignant tissues reflect light in different ways, the scientists can distinguish between them. Using reflected light for tumour diagnosis was originally proposed by an Italian group in 1991 but the method developed by Dr Vincent Wallace and his team can not only analyse smaller features in the lesion than before, but can also provide more information by using light at a wider range of frequencies including ultra-violet and infra-red.

Most people have pigmented areas of the skin, such as freckles and moles, and determining whether or not they are cancerous can be difficult. The earlier a tumour is detected, the more chance there is of successful treatment, but in the early stages, the differences between benign and malignant lesions are difficult to detect. The most common method of diagnosis is simply by sight, but accuracy of detection can be as low as fifty percent. Expert dermatologists will have higher levels of accuracy; this simple technique appears to perform as well as the experts. A useful aspect of this technique is that non-specialists, such as trainees and general practitioners, will be able to make use of it, leading to faster diagnosis for patients. This new system is simple to use and can rapidly analyse spectral data giving an on-the-spot, accurate diagnosis. A major clinical trial has been proposed.

Institute of Physics