The technology will relay on using special microscopes to digitally image a patient’s skin. The cellular resolution images may then be used by physicians to assist in forming a clinical judgment for a variety of skin conditions, including, for example, melanoma, basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratoses, and contact dermatitis.
A typical VivaScope imaging session produces two types of images of the patient’s skin like dermatoscopic quality, full-color macroscopic pictures and microscopic, cellular resolution images. Like a routine biopsy, the images can then be read by a dermatologist or a pathologist and the diagnosis presented to the patient.
Jay Eastman, CEO of Lucid, said: VivaScope imaging sessions require only 5 to 10 minutes of a physician’s assistant’s time.
Just as MRI and CT scans have largely eliminated the need for routine exploratory surgery, in-vivo confocal imaging may one day eliminate the need for routine invasive skin biopsy.
