Open AccessAssessment of SIA scopy in the triage of suspicious skin tumours
Author(s) -
Sgouros D.,
Lallas A.,
Julian Y.,
Rigopoulos D.,
Zalaudek I.,
Longo C.,
Moscarella E.,
Simonetti V.,
Argenziano G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
skin research and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.521
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1600-0846
pISSN - 0909-752X
DOI - 10.1111/srt.12138
Subject(s) - medicine , histopathology , melanoma , skin cancer , dermis , dermatology , papillary dermis , cancer , pathology , cancer research
Background/purpose Spectrophotometric Intracutaneous Analysis ( SIA scopy) is a non‐invasive, computerized technique for the diagnosis of pigmented skin tumours. The analysis is based on the evaluation of skin chromophores, i.e. melanin, haemoglobin and collagen within the epidermis and papillary dermis. Our aim was to assess the diagnostic validity of SIA scopy in the detection of melanoma and non‐melanoma skin cancers compared to the clinical‐dermoscopic diagnosis and the histopathologic results of the excised lesions. Methods In total, 188 lesions of 180 patients were examined by dermoscopy and SIA scopy. A SIA scopy scoring system was first compared with the clinical‐dermoscopic diagnosis and then with the histopathologic diagnosis of the excised lesions. Results With respect to the clinical‐dermoscopic evaluation, SIA scopy had sensitivity and specificity values of 85.7% and 65.4% respectively. Of the 188 evaluated lesions, 44 were excised with histopathologic examination revealing 31 malignant tumours, including 18 melanomas. With respect to histopathology SIA scopy had a sensitivity of 83.9%. Seven of the 13 benign excised lesions were scored as malignant by SIA scopy resulting in a specificity of 46.1%. Conclusion SIA scopy cannot replace the standard of care in skin cancer diagnosis, which includes clinical and dermoscopic examination. However, considering that the technique does not require specific training and expertise, it might represent an additional, relatively cost‐effective tool to select lesions for referral.