ITWire

The innovative Australian technology – a camera, named the DermLiTe DLCam – was developed over the past five years through a collaborative effort between Australian company, MoleMap by Dermatologists and design and manufacturing/distribution teams in Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

MoleMap, recognised as world leaders in melanoma surveillance, recently launched the camea, specifically designed to more accurately photograph and map moles for early melanoma detection, at the 2012 World Congress on Dermoscopy in Brisbane. MoleMap reports that the camera sold out immediately.

The technology is already being used in the global network of MoleMap clinics, by dermatologists and general practitioners across Australia and New Zealand and will soon be available in the US.

General Manager of MoleMap Australia, Mary Boldiston, says more than 1,800 Australians die annually from melanoma and the new technology will increase the accuracy of the mole mapping process. “It will also greatly improve access to the MoleMap program as further clinics are rolled out across Australia and doctors start using the camera in their day to day practice.”

"Australia has the highest rate of death from skin cancer in the world. The diagnostic potential of this new technology means we will have a reliable custom camera to improve our mole imaging and diagnosis and ultimately utilise it to help save lives."

Boldiston said the camera was designed specifically for imaging skin lesions, utilising a cross polarising light unit to illuminate the lesion for dermoscopic views and a high intensity LED light for clinical views.

“These custom designed light units create strong contrast and give better definition, allowing for more accurate diagnosis of melanoma. The camera has only a few controls allowing it to be quickly and easily used by nurses, doctors and other medical staff with minimal training.”

The camera also includes an interface to MoleMap sequential monitoring 'MoleCam' software, which assists doctors with the consecutive monitoring of moles that may be potential melanomas - one of the recommendations in The Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Melanoma in Australia and New Zealand.

According to Boldiston, with 50 clinics and nearly 30,000 patients seen annually across Australia, New Zealand and the US, MoleMap's tele-dermatology system is regarded as “the world's most advanced melanoma and skin cancer screening program.”

Boldiston also said that with 2,500,000 lesion images in its database - the largest database of lesions in the world - MoleMap data was already being used for studies and educational programmes in the United States, with world-leading cancer centre, Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Clinic (MSKCC), currently drawing on the database to further ground-breaking studies in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.