Melanoma: How and when to consider clinical diagnostic technologies

Abstract

In response to rising rates of melanoma worldwide, novel noninvasive melanoma detection techniques are emerging to facilitate the early detection of melanoma and decrease unnecessary biopsies of benign pigmented lesions. Because they often report similar study findings, it may be difficult to determine how best to incorporate these technologies into clinical practice based on their supporting studies alone. The first article in this continuing medical education series provides practical advice on how and when to use various noninvasive melanoma detection techniques in clinical practice.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; cutaneous melanoma; mobile applications; optical coherence tomography; pigmented lesion assay; reflectance confocal microscopy; sequential digital dermoscopic imaging; tape stripping; teledermatology; total body photography.