Medical device maker Michelson Diagnostics (Maidstone, Kent, England), which focuses on multi-beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology, has published full results from an independent clinical study that demonstrates the clinical value of OCT in diagnosing basal cell carcinoma (BCC). The multicenter study was conducted using the company's VivoSight multi-beam OCT device.
Related: OCT developments address skin cancer diagnosis
The study highlights that using the device is an efficient, noninvasive way to diagnose BCC, with the potential to reduce avoidable biopsies and surgery, thereby reducing scarring for patients.
Study details showed a significant increase in specificity to 75.3% (p<0.0001) when using OCT in the diagnosis of BCC when compared to clinical assessment alone (specificity of 28.6%). Use of dermoscopy in addition to clinical evaluation resulted in an increase in specificity to only 54.3%. Diagnostic sensitivity of clinical evaluation alone for BCC was found to be high (90.0%) and while there was a slight increase in sensitivity when using OCT or dermoscopy in addition to clinical evaluation, it did not reach statistical significance. Importantly, the study showed a sizeable improvement in the accuracy of diagnosis of all lesions from 65.8% for clinical evaluation alone to 87.4% with OCT.
Full details of the work appear in the British Journal of Dermatology; for more information, please visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjd.13853.
-----
Follow us on Twitter, 'like' us on Facebook, connect with us on Google+, and join our group on LinkedIn
