Hybrid Device Scans for Skin Cancer

A new technology for identifying skin cancer is based on the observation that cancerous cells proliferate faster than healthy cells, and their accelerated metabolic activity releases energy at a higher frequency.

A medical device company is focused on developing and marketing a noninvasive, painless test that can be completed quickly in the doctor's office. Its objective is to improve early detection and more accurately diagnose skin cancer and precancerous lesions.

The company, called Skin Cancer Scanning Ltd. (SCS; Tel Aviv, Israel), has developed a device called SkinScan 650, which will enable physicians to diagnose skin cancer at an earlier, more curable stage with fewer false positive biopsies. This would reduce both treatment costs and the number of unnecessary biopsies, and improve quality of life.

The device diagnoses lesions by the use of light reflectance in the visual and infra red (IR) range of the spectrum. In addition, the technology has the ability to diagnose nonmelanoma skin cancers with a high-sensitivity rate and a specificity rate, which at this, not final, stage of development, is more accurate than the primary care physician and the unaided dermatologist.

Yossi Biderman, CEO of SCS described how the device is used, "The doctor simply places the device next to the nevus [benign skin lesion] he wants to check. A light source projects rays onto the scanned lesion, and the body cells absorb part of the rays and reflect the light back--as do all things. That reflection is collected, then turned from optical into digital data for assessment. Our system knows how to absorb the rays emanating from the body and assess in which range of the spectrum the light's rays are coming out and their behavioral patterns."

To date two stages of clinical trials have been completed at the Rabin Medical Center (Petah Tikva, Israel). These trials validated the device's nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) capabilities resulting with a 92.4% sensitivity rate.

Currently, dermatologists and other primary care physicians mainly use visual (naked-eye) clinical evaluation to diagnose skin cancer. Physicians assess pigmented skin lesions using the "ABCDE” criteria, asymmetry, border irregularity, color variation, diameter, and evolving. This is often followed by biopsy of suspected lesions to confirm if the tissue is cancerous. However, this process is subjective and can result in missed melanomas. The ratio of benign lesions biopsied to melanomas confirmed is highly variable, as high as 40 to 1 for dermatologists and as high as 80 to 1 for primary care physicians.

In July 2010, mBeach Software (GA, USA) acquired SCS in a reverse merger move that saw the management of SCS replace mBeach's staff. "The major reason for this move is the [company's] ability to raise funds on the open market in the [United States]. This is an international company that can better focus in the future on developing markets. The Israeli company can now concentrate on research," said Mr. Biderman, now mBeach CEO.

Related Links:
Skin Cancer Scanning Ltd.
Rabin Medical Center