A non-invasive, skin cancer detection device for physicians.

Optical tissue samples are objectively analyzed, with results in seconds not days.

How It Works

Lesion Identification

Lesion Identification

Physician identifies the lesion of concern on their patient
DermaSensor Scan

DermaSensor™ Scan

Physician gently touches the small device tip to the lesion, taking instant recordings at different locations of the lesion
Photo Scattering

Photon Scattering

Light reflects and scatters from particles in the cells of the skin tissue back to DermaSensor’s™ spectral sensor
Algorithmic Analysis

Algorithmic Analysis

The proprietary DermaSensor™ algorithm analyzes the reflected photons and provides an immediate “Investigate Further” or “Monitor” result

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.

DermaSensor™ for Physicians

Physicians

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.

dermatologists

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.

Clinics

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

Sunscreen suncreen man mobile
PCPs Care

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

PCPs Care

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

PCPs Care

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

PCPs Care

Primary Care Physicians refer as few as 54% of the cancerous lesions they evaluate.14

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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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