Malvehy Josep, Dreno Brigitte, Barba Enric, Dirshka Thomas, Fumero Emilio, Greis Christian, Gupta Girish, Lacarrubba Francesco, Micali Giuseppe, Moreno David, Pellacani Giovanni, Sampietro-Colom Laura, Stratigos Alexander, Puig Susanna
Dermatology Department. Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain.
University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain. Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain. Biomedical Research Networking Centre on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, Barcelona, Spain.
Dermatol Pract Concept. 2023 Jul 1;13(3):e2023181. doi: 10.5826/dpc.1303a181.
Melanoma is the deadliest of all the skin cancers and its incidence is increasing every year in Europe. Patients with melanoma often present late to the specialist and treatment is delayed for many reasons (delay in patient consultation, misdiagnosis by general practitioners, and/or limited access to dermatologists). Beyond this, there are significant inequalities in skin cancer between population groups within the same country and between countries across Europe. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic only aggravated these health deficiencies.
The aim was to create an expert opinion about the challenges in skin cancer management in Europe during the post COVID-19 acute pandemic and to identify and discuss the implementation of new technologies (including e-health and artificial intelligence defined as "Smart Skin Cancer Care") to overcome them.
For this purpose, an ad-hoc questionnaire with items addressing topics of skin cancer care was developed, answered independently and discussed by a multidisciplinary European panel of experts comprising dermatologists, dermato-oncologists, patient advocacy representatives, digital health technology experts, and health technology assessment experts.
After all panel of experts discussions, a multidisciplinary expert opinion was created.
As a conclusion, the access to dermatologists is difficult and will be aggravated in the near future. This fact, together with important differences in Skin Cancer Care in Europe, suggest the need of a new approach to skin health, prevention and disease management paradigm (focused on integration of new technologies) to minimize the impact of skin cancer and to ensure optimal quality and equity.
黑色素瘤是所有皮肤癌中最致命的一种，在欧洲其发病率逐年上升。黑色素瘤患者往往很晚才去看专科医生，由于多种原因治疗被延误（患者就诊延迟、全科医生误诊和/或看皮肤科医生的机会有限）。除此之外，在同一个国家内不同人群之间以及欧洲各国之间，皮肤癌存在显著的不平等现象。新冠疫情的出现只会加剧这些健康缺陷。
目的是就新冠疫情后欧洲皮肤癌管理面临的挑战形成专家意见，并识别和讨论新技术（包括电子健康和定义为“智能皮肤癌护理”的人工智能）的实施以克服这些挑战。
为此，编制了一份专门的问卷，其中的项目涉及皮肤癌护理主题，由一个多学科的欧洲专家小组独立回答并进行讨论，该小组包括皮肤科医生、皮肤肿瘤学家、患者权益代表、数字健康技术专家和卫生技术评估专家。
经过所有专家小组的讨论，形成了一份多学科专家意见。
总之，看皮肤科医生困难，且在不久的将来这种情况还会加剧。这一事实，连同欧洲皮肤癌护理方面的重大差异，表明需要一种新的皮肤健康、预防和疾病管理模式（侧重于新技术的整合），以尽量减少皮肤癌的影响，并确保最佳质量和公平性。
