The DermaSensor Device vs the Dermatologist and the Pathologist: Lead Author Details New Study

In this study, the DermaSensor point-of-care skin cancer screening device was evaluated in "high volume dermatology centers that saw a lot of patients with melanoma and pigmented lesions," dermatologist and lead author Rebecca Hartman, MD, MPH, told Patient Care® recently. The study's goal, she explained, was to "see how the device performed on early melanomas that are diagnosed when an expert in pigmented lesions is looking very closely." Lesions were scanned using DermaSensor and results recorded. Those results were the compared with impressions reported by pathologists. In the short video above, Hartman reviews the findings on the sensitivity and specificity of the device for melanoma compared with expert analysis and discusses the DermaSensor positive and negative predictive value.

Approved by the FDA in January 2024 and intended for use by primary care clinicians, the AI-powered DermaSensor device uses elastic scattering spectroscopy to evaluate the cellular and subcellular characteristics of suspicious skin lesions, according to the company. Five spectral recordings collected in a single scan are evaluated by an FDA-cleared algorithm developed and originally validated scans of more than 20 000 lesions. The primary care clinician receives a reading that says, “Investigate Further,” indicating a referral should be made to a dermatologist, or “Monitor,” an outcome which could help rule out a majority of unnecessary referrals for benign lesions. DermaSensor is intended to detect melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma.

Rebecca Hartman, MD, MPH, is assistant professor of dermatology at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School and associate chief of the dermatology section at the VA Boston Healthcare System, in Boston, MA. Hartman's clinical practice is focused on melanoma and general dermatology while her research interests are in skin cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.