( Skin cancer is on the increase. Recent ...)Confocal imaging promises early detection of skin cancer

“Diagnosis of skin cancers can take weeks, depending on the health system,?says Dr Jafer Sheblee, coordinator of the IST project EDISCIM. “The process involves visits to a general practitioner and a hospital specialist. With our new system, we hope to replace these visits with just one visit and by detecting skin cancer as early as possible, to offer patients the most complete treatment.?/p>

Doctors can choose from some 40 different imaging techniques to detect and diagnose skin cancer, the simplest being a magnifying glass. Most techniques evaluate external skin features, such as colour or morphology. “But doctors need to look deeper into the basal layers, at least one millimetre down, to be sure of their diagnosis,?says Dr Sheblee.

The original idea for using confocal microscopy to look deeper into skin came from German company Siemens. The technology involves illumination of a single point in a sample with a laser and imaging of the same point by opto-mechanical means. When Siemens dropped out of the project, the remaining partners sought a replacement. In stepped UK firm VisiTech International.

“Confocal microscopy allows you to optically section through objects,?says Dr Sheblee. “It’s like a biopsy without the painful physical cuts and resulting scars, looking at layers slice by slice.?The technology has been around for 50 years, but only recently been used in the life sciences area.

Because it calls on lasers and high-end imaging, confocal technology is expensive. One project goal was to reduce the manufacture costs ?by stripping away everything not needed for skin diagnosis, redesigning optical components and producing a use
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Source:IST Results