Non-invasive tools for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma.

BACKGROUND

While the excisional biopsy and histological examination of suspicious lesions remains the current gold standard for diagnosing cutaneous melanoma (CM), there is a demand for more objective and non-invasive examination methods that may support clinicians in their decision when to biopsy or not.

METHODS

This review is based on publications and guidelines retrieved by a selective search in PubMed and MEDLINE and focused on non-invasive diagnostic strategies for detecting melanoma.

RESULTS

Ten different non-invasive techniques were compared with regard to applicability, status of development, and resources necessary for introduction into clinical routine (dermoscopy, sequential digital dermoscopy, total body photography, computer-aided multispectral digital analysis, electrical impedance spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy, multiphoton tomography, stepwise two-photon-laser spectroscopy, quantitative dynamic infrared imaging). In an effort to create a classification based on our analyses, we suggest to differentiate i) tools for screening of patients in daily clinical routine, ii) tools for examination of a restricted number of preselected lesions that produce an automated diagnostic score, iii) tools for examination of a restricted number of preselected lesions at specialized centers requiring extensive training, iv) devices at an experimental stage of development.

CONCLUSION

None of the discussed examination techniques is able to provide a definite and final diagnosis or to completely replace the histopathological examination. Up to date, the need for fully automated devices offering a complete skin cancer screening has not been satisfied.