Background: Patients with lesions suspicious for skin cancer often present to primary care physicians (PCPs), who may have limited training in skin cancer diagnosis.
Objective: To measure the impact of an adjunctive handheld device for PCPs that employs elastic scattering spectroscopy (ESS) on the diagnosis and management of skin cancer.
Methods: Fifty-seven PCPs evaluated 50 clinical images of skin lesions (25 malignant and 25 benign), first without and then with knowledge of the handheld ESS device output, and in each case indicated if a lesion was likely to be benign or malignant.
Results: The diagnostic sensitivity of the PCPs with and without the use of the ESS device was 88% (95% CI, 84%-92%) and 67% (95% CI, 62%-72%), respectively (P < .0001). In contrast, no significant difference was observed in the diagnostic specificity. The management sensitivity of the physicians with and without the use of the ESS device was 94% (95% CI, 91%-96%) and 81% (95% CI, 77%-85%), respectively (P = .0009). Similarly, no significant difference was observed in the management specificity.
Conclusion: The use of the ESS device may have the potential to help improve skin cancer diagnosis and confidence in management decision-making in a primary care setting.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; basal cell carcinoma; convolutional neural network; dermatologist; dermatology; machine learning; melanoma; skin cancer; spectroscopy; squamous cell carcinoma.