SEARCH THIS WEBSITE
With Covid on the wane, dermatology conferences have been open, well attended and seen valuable information shared.
A conference dedicated to skin cancer research and clinical trials took place in Brisbane, in March 2023. Helpful to reflect on the topics leading figures from across the globe chose for presentations:
- Melanoma prevention, early diagnosis and surveillance.
- Clinical trials on AI assisted diagnosis of melanoma.
- Defining wide excision margins in skin cancer surgery.
- Immunotherapy, including updates on current trials.
There were others, from ocular melanoma, to skin cancer in organ transplant patients and improving quality of life for all patients. The four given above are still a fair reflection of topics with a strong focus.
Improving Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy harnesses the body’s natural defence system to combat cancer and is used for patients with advanced melanoma. Recent developments have seen improvement in melanoma survival rates and they may improve more.
Researchers from King’s College London and Guy’s & St Thomas presented a ground breaking study in June 2023, at a conference in Hamburg.
Immunotherapies often broadly activate the immune system, although a few are designed to target immune responses in specific types of cells. This team have produced an antibody to target melanoma cells.
With 40% of melanoma patients not responding to current immunotherapy, their work could prove valuable and trials have been promising. Part of the progress we are seeing in immunotherapy, hormonal therapy and other advanced care.
Diagnostic Intervention
A much as curing advanced cancers is welcome, there is no better outcome for patients than early diagnosis and intervention if needed.
The National Health Service are aware of this but Covid backlog and staffing challenges are not helping. Their solution is to extend a teledermatology (online diagnosis) program, which has been trialled across 15% of trusts.
A dermatoscope lens which fits on a mobile phone will play a key part, distributed to community diagnostic centres and GPs. They can forward detailed medical images without a visit being required, allowing dermatologists to review twice as many patients.
The NHS is also trialling the use of artificial intelligence to assess skin lesions for the presence of cancer. A process which takes just a few seconds and has been to the fore in conferences we mentioned.
Whilst this approach has progressed, evidence to date suggests that a good specialist will outperform the AI. There can equally be medical, or psychological reasons why seeing a consultant in person will help.
There is still no doubt that reducing waiting time within the national system will be beneficial. The AI systems should also improve over time.
A Brighter Future
Alongside other developments. the two fields mentioned above can combine, with AI capable of speeding up drug development and analysis. One example looked at data processing from trials, which took a team 3 weeks in the 1970s, just 21 seconds for the latest AI.
Of course there is still human involvement to prepare what is required and to think on benefits, or outcomes. The idea that AI will take over the world is somewhat overplayed but the power this brings can be a remarkable servant.
Just part of the change we are seeing for managing skin cancer in 2023, with ample reasons to be positive about future patient care.