Differentiation Between Benign and Malignant Pigmented Skin Tumours Using Bedside Diagnostic Imaging Technologies: A Pilot Study.

Rapid diagnosis of suspicious pigmented skin lesions is imperative; however, current bedside skin imaging technologies are either limited in penetration depth or resolution. Combining imaging methods is therefore highly relevant for skin cancer diagnostics. This pilot study evaluated the ability of optical coherence tomography, reflectance confocal microscopy, photo-acoustic imaging and high-frequency ultrasound to differentiate malignant from benign pigmented skin lesions.

Photoacoustic tomography for assessment and quantification of cutaneous and metastatic malignant melanoma - A systematic review.

Background: Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) is an emerging noninvasive imaging technique combining high sensitivity optical absorption contrast, such as melanin, with high-resolution ultrasound for deep tissue imaging. The ability of PAT to provide real-time images of skin structures at depth has been studied for diagnosis of primary and metastatic malignant melanoma (MM).

Objective: To provide an overview of the rapidly expanding clinical use of PAT for determination of melanoma thickness and architecture, visualization of metastases in lymph nodes and detection of circulating melanoma cells.