A smartphone application was less effective at correctly diagnosing malignant melanoma than clinical diagnosis by dermatologists, based on data from a study evaluating 195 melanocytic lesions.
The app, which used fractal image analysis, was 73% specific and 83% sensitive, whereas the dermatologists’ clinical examinations were 88% sensitive and 97% specific.
Both diagnostic methods’ results were compared to histopathologic analyses of the nevi. The histopathologic analyses found 40 melanomas, 42 dysplastic nevi, and 113 benign nevi.
“The smartphone application ... might be a promising tool in the pre-evaluation of pigmented moles by laypersons,” although the current technology falls short, compared with clinical diagnosis by a dermatologist, according to the study’s researchers.
Find the full study in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (doi:10.1111/jdv.12648).