A new form of skin cancer detector approved by Health Canada

It’s always exciting news when a new treatment or diagnostic method is less invasive than the gold standard. Now, a device has been approved by Health Canada that will allow for easy(er) detection of melanoma. The detector uses a form of spectroscopy that analyzes the molecules within the cells to determine whether they are cancerous or not. This technique will add a level of confirmation between biopsies and the beginning of the dermatological exam during which the physician visually assesses the skin lesion.

According to their website at http://www.verisante.com/products/aura/ the detector scans for “’21 different cancer biomarkers in less than one second”. Furthermore, “Jointly developed by the BC Cancer Agency and the University of British Columbia Faculty of Medicine, this patent protected technology has already been used in a human clinical study spanning six years on approximately 1,000 lesions. Preliminary results published in 2008 showed the technology had found every case of melanoma in 274 lesions flagged for biopsy. This diagnostic tool will greatly aid healthcare professionals, lowering healthcare costs through reduced wait times and early detection.”

Pretty amazing stuff. These kinds of techniques will hopefully be used for the early identification of other cancers, especially if cancers have different “molecular signatures” that could theoretically be differentiated using other techniques like MRI spectroscopy, for example.

**Addendum: Looks like they actually ARE creating the above kind of technique – the “Verisante Core” (http://www.verisante.com/products/core/) is attached to an endoscope and is going to be used to look inside the body and use the same spectroscopic technique to look for lung, colon and cervical cancers. This is super exciting because especially for internal cancers that aren’t as easy to biopsy, it could lead to much quicker diagnosis! A really interesting Canadian innovation in cancer diagnosis.

Skin cancer detector approved – Health – CBC News.