Laser-based tool for skin cancer detection

Laser-based tool, from Duke University chemists, develop to diagnose melanoma.

A Laser tool developed at Duke University might eventually help better diagnose melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. This has a potential of saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars in medical test costs each year that will no longer be needed.

Duke University indicated this about the laser tool that detects cancer:

This laser based tool probes skin cells using two lasers to pump small amounts of energy, less than that of a laser pointer, into a suspicious mole. Scientists analyze the way the energy redistributes in the skin cells to pinpoint the microscopic locations of different skin pigments.

For the first time, scientists have the ability to identify substantial chemical differences between cancerous and healthy skin tissues, said Thomas Matthews, a Duke graduate student who helped develop the new two-laser microscopy technique.

The truth be told, if this technique proves even remotely good, many lives will be saved. Warren S. Warren, the director of Duke’s Center for Molecular and Bimolecular Imaging, the chemistry professor who oversaw the development of the new melanoma diagnostic tool indicated that if the tool were to be 50 percent more accurate than a biopsy, it would prevent about 100,000 false melanoma diagnoses leading to cost-saving potentials beyond our imagination.



Laser Based Tool by Duke University