Better Melanoma Detection with New Device

Saint Mary’s Health Care has acquired the latest technology in skin cancer (melanoma) treatment that provides more accurate and earlier detection. Called the Fotofinder dermoscopeä, the device, which works “like a police radar gun,” in the words of a patient, is non-invasive, painless and offers a wide range of functions for the earlier detection of melanoma. It can observe skin lesions both macroscopically and microscopically.

Cheryl Valentine, RN, BSN, OCN, Clinical Care Coordinator at The Lacks Cancer Center at Saint Mary’s, reports that the dermoscope works in two specific modes to aid in the accurate diagnosis of pigmented lesions that could be melanoma. “The first is overall mole mapping of a patient’s entire body. Using a special type of camera, we take photos of all body parts and then capture the images, download them onto a CD, and send the CD to a dermatologist for the patient’s permanent record. The next time the patient is seen, the physician already has the baseline information.

“The second application is to use a stronger lens to analyze a specific lesion that could possibly be troublesome. Using a higher powered lens, the camera takes the picture and analyzes the lesion’s size, color, and depth, and border and scores it on a range between 0 and 1.0. The closer to the whole number, the more suspicious the mole. This feature gives physicians much better information than simply using their own observations. If a mole that could be suspicious receives a low score, we’ve saved the patient the expense and trauma of surgical removal of the mole. Patients are very pleased because the results are much more accurate than previous techniques and the procedure is completely painless.”

The dermoscope can provide much more accurate information than previous observation methods in which physicians either took their own Polaroid pictures of moles or actually sketched the moles by hand. The new technology also eliminates the need for patients and physicians to rely on their memory of size and appearance of moles.

No other hospital in Grand Rapids or Muskegon currently owns the machine and Saint Mary’s staff have received requests for service from patients as far away as Detroit.

“Having been diagnosed with melanoma years ago, I routinely get checked for recurrences,” remarked one patient. “After undergoing the scan with the dermoscope, I feel very relieved that I know for sure that I don’t have any problem moles at this time. It’s very reassuring.”