Using Diagnostic Tools for Melanoma
Source: Dermatology Times, October 2022
At a session at the 2022 Fall Clinical Dermatology Conference, 2 clinicians discuss some of the top testing methods for skin cancer.
Almost one American dies of melanoma every hour. This was the dramatic beginning of the session, “Meeting challenges in the diagnosis of pigmented lesions,” presented by Darrell S. Rigel, MD, MS, clinical professor of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, New York; and Laura Ferris, MD, PhD, associate professor of Dermatology, University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. The presenters shared the basics of melanoma, or what they called the ABCDE of the disease:
Asymmetrical
Border less
Color change
Diameter (bigger than ¼”)
Evolving (color and size changes)
These specific indicators can aid the practitioner in correctly screening and diagnosing this disorder: to that end, the presenters noted that genomics have also become a crucial part of investigation in melanoma, helping with enhanced detection of the disease. As cancer progression is genetically driven, prediagnostic genomic testing can be a powerful tool in diagnosis.