Summary
The incidence of malignant melanoma in the UK is rising. Increased awareness of melanoma
has led to an increase in patients presenting with pigmented lesions to their general
practitioner (GP) and to pigmented lesion clinics. The sensitivity and specificity
of the general practitioner in diagnosing melanoma remains poor.
Objectives
A trial was conducted to establish the effectiveness of SIAscope in triaging patients
referred by GPs on suspicion of melanoma.
Materials and methods
After Ethical Committee approval, all consenting patients attending the Pigmented
Lesion Clinic at Frenchay Hospital were scanned with the SIAscope. The consultant
then examined all the patients and all suspicious lesions were excised and examined.
Results
Eight hundred and eighty-six patients were included in the trial. The SIAscope had
a sensitivity of 94.4% with a false negative rate of 3.7% for malignant melanoma.
Conclusions
The SIAscope could be useful in reducing the number of benign lesions seen by the
consultant while still identifying most melanomas.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 02, 2007
Accepted:
October 17,
2006
Received:
January 9,
2006
Footnotes
☆This paper was presented at the summer meeting of the British Association of Plastic surgeons, Dublin 2004.
Identification
Copyright
© 2006 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
