A non-invasive, skin cancer detection device for physicians.
Optical tissue samples are objectively analyzed, with results in seconds not days.


Lesion Identification

DermaSensor™ Scan

Photon Scattering

Algorithmic Analysis
DermaSensor™ Technology
- DermaSensor’s™ tip reflects and records quick bursts of light off the lesion’s cellular and sub-cellular content.
- The light is analyzed by the built-in computer to provide information to help physicians assess skin lesions (including melanomas, squamous cell carcinomas, and basal cell carcinomas) to aid in a referral decision.
- By examining the difference in light scattering, DermaSensor™ determines if the skin lesion is “Further Investigate” or “Monitor,” an immediate output.
- Elastic Scattering Spectroscopy (ESS) has been validated in 30+ publications on clinical studies. Many studies have shown ESS to provide information that is comparable to histopathologic assessment in the analysis of cellular microscopic structure.1-4, 15-21
About ESS
DermaSensor™ uses Elastic Scattering Spectroscopy (ESS), a process which evaluates how photons scatter when reflected off of different cellular structures. Malignant lesions have been reported to have different cellular and sub-cellular structures than benign lesions, scattering light differently.

Each year ~5,500,000 skin cancers are diagnosed in America making skin cancer more common than all other cancers combined5,6,7. Unfortunately, only 15% of Americans report having ever been screened for skin cancer8 and, even with that low rate, the average wait time for a dermatologist is still 32.3 days9.

While the 5-year survival rate is 98.7% for early-stage localized melanoma, it is only 24.8% for late-stage distant melanoma (metastasized to other organs)10. In addition, the total treatment costs for melanoma in situ is ~$4,648 while Stage IV melanoma is ~$159,808*11.

Effective evaluation of patients with potential skin cancer in primary care is hampered by limited consultation time and limited dermatology training. PCPs will be able to use DermaSensor™ as an adjunctive tool to better assess skin lesions and determine whether additional evaluation is needed.
What is an Adjunctive Tool?
An adjunctive tool, also known as a clinical decision support tool, is not meant to replace clinicians’ decision-making. DermaSensor™ will provide clinicians with additional information about a lesion for them to consider in their referral decision. An adjunctive tool is not a diagnostic, so DermaSensor™ does not definitively determine whether or not cancer is present, specify what type of cancer may be present, nor make any decision for the user.
DermaSensor™ Benefits
- DermaSensor™ quickly assesses information below the skin surface to give physicians more information and confidence in their decision-making.
- DermaSensor™ is designed to improve early detection of skin cancer through its earlier referral to dermatologists.
- Patients are expected to view DermaSensor™ as a supplemental and valuable addition to the skin care they already receive.
- The non-invasive nature of DermaSensor™ is expected to be unintimidating to patients and reassure them that they are receiving high-quality care.
- The machine-learning algorithm is derived from thousands of spectral samples of pathologically-verified lesions and is trained by expert data scientists.

Why PCPs Care About Skin Cancer In Their Practice



1 in 5 Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer in their lifetime.7

Annual cost of treating skin cancers in the U.S. is estimated at $8.1 billion, with an estimated 5.5 million new cases of skin cancer each year.5,6,12

42.7% of patients present with at least one skin condition to their primary care physician.13

Primary Care Physicians refer as few as 54% of the cancerous lesions they evaluate.14
Footnotes
- 1E Rodriguez‐Diaz, et al. Optical spectroscopy as a method for skin cancer risk assessment. Photochem and Photobiol. 2019 Nov;95(6):1441-1445.
- 2FT Bosman. Chapter 24 in Skin. CJE Underwood (ed). General and systemic pathology (3rd ed, 2000, 667-697). Churchill Livingston.
- 3IJ Bigio and JR Mourant. Ultraviolet and visible spectroscopies for tissue diagnostics: fluorescence spectroscopy and elastic-scattering spectroscopy. Phys Med Biol. 1997 May;42(5)803-814.
- 4T Upile, et al. Elastic scattering spectroscopy in assessing skin lesions: an “in vivo” study. Photodiagnosis Photodyn Ther. 2012 Jun;9(2):132-141.
- 5HW Rogers, et al. Incidence estimate of nonmelanoma skin cancer (keratinocyte carcinomas) in the US population, 2012. JAMA Dermatol. 2015 Oct;151(10):1081-1086.
- 6“Cancer Facts & Figures 2019.” American Cancer Society, 2019, www.cancer.org/research/cancer-facts-statistics/all-cancer-facts-figures/cancer-facts-figures-2019.html.
- 7“Skin Cancer Facts & Statistics.” The Skin Cancer Foundation, 31 May 2019, www.skincancer.org/skin-cancer-information/skin-cancer-facts/.
- 8Coups EJ et al. Prevalence and Correlates of skin cancer screening among middle-aged and older white adults in the United States Am J Med. 2010 May; 123(5): 439-445.
- 9Merritt Hawkins: 2017 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Time and Medicare and Medicaid Acceptance Rates.
- 10“Melanoma of the Skin - Cancer Stat Facts.” SEER, National Cancer Institute, 2019, seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/melan.html.
- 11RK Voss, et al. Improving outcomes in patients with melanoma: strategies to ensure an early diagnosis. Patient Relat Outcome Meas. 2015 Nov;6:229-242.
- 12GP Guy, et al. Prevalence and costs of skin cancer treatment in the U.S., 2002-2006 and 2007-2011. Am J Prev Med. 2015;148(2):183-187.
- 13JL St Sauver, et al. Why patients visit their doctors: assessing the most prevalent conditions in a defined American population. Mayo Clin Proc. 2013 Jan;88(1):56-67.
- 15E Rodriguez-Diaz, et al. Endoscopic histological assessment of colonic polyps by using elastic scattering spectroscopy. Gastrointest Endosc. 2015 Mar;81(3):539-547.
- 16A Dhar, Elastic scattering spectroscopy for the diagnosis of colonic lesions: initial results of a novel optical biopsy technique et al. Gastrointest Endosc. 2006 Feb;63(2):257-261.
- 17H Suh, et al. Elastic light-scattering spectroscopy for discrimination of benign from malignant disease in thyroid nodules. Ann Surg Oncol. 2011 May;18(5):1300-1305.
- 18M Austwick, et al. Scanning elastic scattering spectroscopy detects metastatic breast cancer in sentinel lymph nodes. J Biomed Opt. 2010 Jul-Aug;15(4):047001.
- 19Y Zhu, et al. Elastic scattering spectroscopy for detection of cancer risk in Barrett's esophagus: experimental and clinical validation of error removal by orthogonal subtraction for increasing accuracy. J Biomed Opt. 2009 Jul-Aug;14(4):044022.
- 20I Bigio, et al. Diagnosis of breast cancer using elastic-scattering spectroscopy: preliminary clinical results. J Biomed Opt. 2000 Apr;5(2):221-228.
- 21E Rodriguez-Diaz et al. Elastic scattering spectroscopy as an optical marker of inflammatory bowel disease activity and subtypes. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2014 Jun;20(6):1029-1036.
*Figures are based on data from 2009 before expensive new treatment options were available, which can be exemplified in the following paper showing some treatment costs for melanoma: https://www.dermatologytimes.com/article/treating-melanoma-cost-care-vs-value-life
DISCLAIMER: The DermaSensor device is currently CE Marked and is also registered and available for sale in Australia and in New Zealand; investigational and not currently approved or available for sale in the U.S.
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