Kupetsky Erine A, Ferris Laura K
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA.
Expert Opin Med Diagn. 2013 Jul;7(4):405-11. doi: 10.1517/17530059.2013.785520. Epub 2013 Mar 31.
Over 75,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanoma in 2012. The incidence of melanoma continues to increase over time and early detection is currently the most promising strategy to decrease melanoma-related morbidity and mortality. Currently, most physicians perform skin cancer screenings with the unaided eye. However, the FDA recently approved, MelaFind, a multispectral objective computer vision system to assist dermatologists in making more accurate biopsy decisions to facilitate early melanoma diagnosis.
This review covers the sensitivity and specificity, limitations and clinical role of MelaFind and other devices available or under development to aid in the detection of melanoma.
Physician screening with the aid of MelaFind device may improve detection of early melanoma and potentially reduce melanoma morbidity and mortality, if used widely. The strength of MelaFind is its high sensitivity, acceptable specificity, ease of use and objective output. Thus it has potential to improve biopsy decisions made by both dermatologists and less experienced clinicians. Currently, the use of MelaFind is not reimbursed by insurance and the cost, which is paid directly by the patient, will likely limit its use.
2012年，美国有超过75000人被诊断出患有黑色素瘤。黑色素瘤的发病率持续上升，目前早期检测是降低黑色素瘤相关发病率和死亡率最有前景的策略。目前，大多数医生通过肉眼进行皮肤癌筛查。然而，美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）最近批准了MelaFind，这是一种多光谱客观计算机视觉系统，可协助皮肤科医生做出更准确的活检决策，以促进黑色素瘤的早期诊断。
本综述涵盖了MelaFind以及其他现有或正在研发的用于辅助检测黑色素瘤的设备的敏感性和特异性、局限性及临床作用。
如果广泛使用，借助MelaFind设备进行医生筛查可能会提高早期黑色素瘤的检测率，并有可能降低黑色素瘤的发病率和死亡率。MelaFind的优势在于其高敏感性、可接受的特异性、易用性和客观输出。因此，它有潜力改善皮肤科医生和经验不足的临床医生做出的活检决策。目前，保险不报销MelaFind的使用费用，由患者直接支付的费用可能会限制其使用。
