Skin Cancer Screening: New Life-Saving Technology Revealed
How can we improve the detection of skin cancer? In a context of a shortage of dermatologists in France, cutting-edge technologies combined with artificial intelligence could prove to be increasingly valuable aids in diagnosis. Since October, in Evreux, a town located about a hundred kilometers west of Paris, stands a huge machine three meters high and five meters wide. Named Vectra 360, it is capable of photographing almost the entire surface of a patient’s skin in one shot, thanks to its 92 high-definition lenses. The scanner thus produced maps visible lesions and all moles: “The doctor can then, remotely, choose to zoom in on one that seems suspicious to analyze it,” explains Isabelle L’hôpital, who heads the company France Dermatologie Territoires, the origin of the project. The objective of this dermatological imaging sector is to improve the detection of melanoma in a department facing, like many others, “long waits for an appointment with a dermatologist” against a backdrop of a shortage of these specialists. Melanoma, responsible for 2,000 deaths each year in France
Every year in France, approximately 18,000 cases of melanoma are discovered – the most aggressive of skin cancers – resulting in 2,000 deaths. It is a skin tumor that resembles a mole but often has the following characteristics: asymmetry, irregular borders, multiple colors, enlargement, or change in appearance. The number of new cases per year has steadily increased over the past two or three decades. But thanks to improved screening and the introduction of new treatments, the death rate has been stabilizing in recent years. Several companies are trying to revolutionize the early management of this serious cancer. “Since the late 1990s, many offices have equipped themselves with so-called digital dermoscopy machines, which allow photos of a patient’s skin to be taken and then compared during successive appointments to see if moles have evolved,” says Luc Thomas, a skin cancer specialist, practitioner at the Lyon University Hospital. In France, the German company FotoFinder has established itself among dermatologists, but technologies are evolving: the quality of images has significantly improved. Previously able to photograph the skin cm² by cm², machines can now capture almost the entire body surface. The French startup SquareMind hopes to market its “innovative” solution as early as this year: a robotic arm that navigates around the patient. “It will offer a full-body photograph in just a few minutes, zoomable on lesions in very high definition,” explains Ali Khachlouf, founder of SquareMind. An aid in “sorting” thanks to AI
In Marseille, in the south of France, the university hospitals of Marseille were equipped in 2022 with the Vectra system, manufactured in the United States. The machine, which costs around 400,000 euros, was able to be financed thanks to the help of industrialists and the Cancéropole de PACA. “We must use technology to improve our practices,” argues Jilliana Monnier, oncodermatologist, head of the automated melanoma screening center in Marseille, who uses it. “At a time when dermatological services are shrinking, automating certain time-consuming steps in melanoma screening will allow us to more precisely monitor patients who need it most,” she explains. In the future, practitioners hope to be able to rely on the help of artificial intelligence produced by these machines. By automatically documenting the skin surface of a large number of people, they will create a complete history of lesions and moles of these patients. The goal will then be to develop AI algorithms capable of easily and quickly identifying new, evolving, or suspicious lesions on the skin as a whole. “Today, the machine cannot yet provide a diagnosis,” says Jilliana Monnier – that is, affirm if a particular lesion is melanoma. But within two years, Ali Khachlouf expects an AI that detects melanoma “with a high level of confidence,” and Luc Thomas specifies that “artificial intelligence can be used to sort through, even if the final decision will always rest with the doctor.”