Detecting Melanoma Cancer Becomes Far more Reliable and Accessible

When a medical professional tells you that she believes you need a biopsy for melanoma cancer, of course, your first instinct is to feel real fear. But then, your mind turns over to feeling trust for the medical profession and the abilities of your healthcare provider. As far as the biopsy goes as a method of screening people for melanoma, how dependable is it? Certain biopsies, especially ones done by the FNAC procedure, can have abysmal levels of false positives. As far as melanoma biopsies go, they aren't as accurate as you would have been be - one out of five biopsies turn out to be inaccurate.

Do better ways of screening for melanoma cancer not exist? There is at least one new development in this area that offers a lot of hope. It is the laser-based melanoma screening method. The first thing about this method that strikes you as remarkable is the fact that it makes screening for melanoma cancer a whole lot simpler. The laser device can be used right at the skin doctor’s clinic. You don't need to go down to a lab for an intimidating procedure. The laser wand is trained on a part of your scan, mold typically, that the Dr. finds worrying. The device analyzes the way the energy pumped into your skin by the laser is absorbed and redistributed by cells in your skin.

Skin that is afflicted with melanoma is understood to have far higher levels of the pigment eumelanin than normal skin. The laser tool can tell the difference between hundreds of levels of eumelanin in the skin to diagnose melanoma cancer. The device, under study yet at the Duke University is actually about 50% better at eliminating false positives than the old biopsy method. This would actually help about 80,000 patients annually from being diagnosed with nonexistent cancer. One hopes that the device makes it into doctors’ offices soon enough.

At first, dermatologists might balk at the $100,000 bill for the device; dermatologists need to remember though that once they bring one into their clinics, it opens up to them a new avenue for revenue. They won’t need to refer patients outside for biopsies. At this point, they will gladly welcome the device into their lives.

At this point, the laser to diagnose melanoma cancer cannot be trained directly on to a patient's skin. A sample needs to be taken out to be placed under the laser and under a microscope. New developments are expected in a couple of years that will make the whole skin scraping annoyance a thing of the past. Any time testing for the disease becomes simpler and quicker, early detection becomes a real possibility. This is a device that could easily save lives just because it makes testing easier