Advances in Early Detection of Melanoma and the Future of At-Home Testing

Life (Basel). 2023 Apr 9;13(4):974. doi: 10.3390/life13040974.

Abstract

The past decade has seen numerous advancements in approaches to melanoma detection, each with the common goal to stem the growing incidence of melanoma and its mortality rate. These advancements, while well documented to increase early melanoma detection, have also garnered considerable criticism of their efficacy for improving survival rates. In this review, we discuss the current state of such early detection approaches that do not require direct dermatologist intervention. Our findings suggest that a number of at-home and non-specialist methods exist with high accuracy for detecting melanoma, albeit with a few notable concerns worth further investigation. Additionally, research continues to find new approaches using artificial intelligence which have promise for the future.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; early-detection; melanoma; primary-care; self-screening.

Publication types

  • Review

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the following sources: The American Cancer Society, grant no. 129523-MRSG-16-029-01-DDC; The Department of Defense (DOD) grant numbers. W81XWH-17-1-0514 and W81XWH-17-1-0098; The Kuni Foundation; The OHSU Physician-Scientist Program; OHSU Cancer Early Detection Advanced Research Center (CEDAR).