Innovative solution allowing to detect and characterize progress over time of a skin cancer, using a standardized methodology and equipment, for the use of specialized and general physicians. – MELASCAN

The melanome, under its malignant shape, is recognized as being the most severe shape of skin cancer. Its impact to the human population grows for several decades and doubles approximately every 10 years. The diagnosis is at present made by a clinician from the visual inspection of the lesion, sometimes by means of dermatoscope or of digital images, in application of ABCDE rule: Asymmetry, Edge, Color, Diameter, Evolution capacities. However, the identification of a mélanome by these clinical examinations remains difficult for the small-sized melanoma (< 6 mm) and for the circular forms which do not go into the field of the ABCDE rule. Furthermore, the sensitivity and the specificity of this identification depends strongly on the level of experience and training of the physician, as well as in the interpretation of the colors of this last one dependent on its visual acuteness and on its sensitivity in the chromatic nuances.
The current dermoscopie examines the skin with a tool eliminating the reflections of the stratum corneum and allowing a significant magnification. This technique increases the performance to differentiate pigmented melanocyte from and none melanocyte. However, in the case of differential diagnosis between a melanoma and an atypical naevus, the dermoscopie do not bring sufficient diagnostic accuracy and resolution to avoid an chirugical procedure and do not improve the practice of therapeutics. The essential reasons are that:
- The current computerized tools base themselves on the visual information of the acquired image, with results not better than the ones optained by the visual analysis performed by the physicians."
-No standardization of the imaging process is currently available. The reproducibility between devices and the repetability of the acquisition with the same device are not guaranteed.
The MELASCAN project suggests realizing the acquisition of the same zone by means of monochromatic lightings or in weak spectral range covering the wavelengths of the UV until the IR by means of a standardized device and a methodology. The integration of a multi-spectral light will allow to reveal to the physicians properties of the until then not visible skin characteristics (haemoglobin, melanin, collagen, others) and to observe the cutaneous in-depth layers. Wavelengths in the IR range penetrates more than the wavelengths of the visible spectrum."
The collection of these data within a cummunity base certified by a group of experts will allow to end in a decision-making tool by a classification in malignant / not malignant. The MELASCAN ouput provides to the physician a diagnostic based on a sophisticated measurement tools combined with data collected in the field using the "close relations" lession including criterias of the human eye analysis (shape, contrast, colorimetry) associated to the "standard" diagnoses and the tracking of the progress over time.