Assessment of SIAscopy in the triage of suspicious skin tumours

Background/purpose: Spectrophotometric Intracutaneous Analysis (SIAscopy) is a non-invasive, computerized technique for the diagnosis of pigmented skin tumours. The analysis is based on the evaluation of skin chromophores, i.e. melanin, haemoglobin and collagen within the epidermis and papillary dermis. Our aim was to assess the diagnostic validity of SIAscopy in the detection of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers compared to the clinical-dermoscopic diagnosis and the histopathologic results of the excised lesions. Methods: In total, 188 lesions of 180 patients were examined by dermoscopy and SIAscopy. A SIAscopy scoring system was first compared with the clinical-dermoscopic diagnosis and then with the histopathologic diagnosis of the excised lesions. Results: With respect to the clinical-dermoscopic evaluation, SIAscopy had sensitivity and specificity values of 85.7% and 65.4% respectively. Of the 188 evaluated lesions, 44 were excised with histopathologic examination revealing 31 malignant tumours, including 18 melanomas. With respect to histopathology SIAscopy had a sensitivity of 83.9%. Seven of the 13 benign excised lesions were scored as malignant by SIAscopy resulting in a specificity of 46.1%. Conclusion: SIAscopy cannot replace the standard of care in skin cancer diagnosis, which includes clinical and dermoscopic examination. However, considering that the technique does not require specific training and expertise, it might represent an additional, relatively cost-effective tool to select lesions for referral.