Medical researchers from Yekaterinburg are contradicting the common opinion that using mobile phones can only pose a health hazard.
On the contrary, researchers from the Ural State Medical University found a way to use smart phones for early diagnosis of skin cancer. Basically, if a person has a suspicious skin area he or she can take a photo with their smart phone and a special app will analyze the picture to find whether the user should be concerned about developing cancer.
For now, the researchers expect that the photos will be taken in a doctor’s office. Before the procedure, a patient will fill out a questionnaire and then his skin will be photographed using a special device similar to a dermatoscope. Unique for Russia, the know-how was officially presented at the Eurasian Congress in Yekaterinburg, according to the official website of the Sverdlovsk Region government. The solution was developed by Alexander Shubin, assistant of the Department of Dermatovenerology at the Ural State Medical University, and the Sirius educational center.
The solution has already been tested on patients – and quite successfully as the diagnosis accuracy can be as high as 96%. More than 1,000 people in the region have already been examined and 17 were diagnosed with melanoma. The software itself has received two registration certificates.
A similar solution was earlier developed by Dutch company SkinVision. Over the app development period, the startup raised more than $12 mio in investment, including $7.6 mio during the last round in 2018. Among the company investors is Leo Pharma, a global pharmaceutical corporation. Using the app, the startup founders hope to save 250K people from cancer by 2027. The app’s accuracy in detecting melanoma is almost 96%.
According to the World Health Organization, one in every three cancer patients in the world suffers from skin cancer.