Developments and Clinical Applications of Noninvasive Optical Technologies for Skin Cancer Diagnosis

Table 1

Summary of optical techniques for skin cancer diagnosis.

Diagnostic technique	Commercially available technologies	Advantages	Disadvantages
Dermoscopy	Delta® 20 T; Dermlite®; Veos®	Better overall diagnostics, prior surgical intervention	Low quality, little depth of engagement, extra instruction needed
Multiphoton microscopy	DermaInspect®	Confinement of data to a single layer, extremely fine resolution down to the subcellular level, wide area coverage	Low signal strength, high acquisition time, susceptibility to artifacts introduced by motion, high cost
Dermatofluoroscopy	DermaFC®	Spectra of melanin are extremely sensitive, allowing for a scientifically sound detection process	Lesion depth information is lacking; only pigmented lesions can be detected
Reflectance confocal microscopy	Vivascope	Extensive correlation with histology, high precision, cellular resolution, better contrast image	Insufficient detecting range and depth, as well as a lengthy learning curve, important to have healthy skin, expensive, needs lots of practice to be effective
Optical coherence tomography	Vivosight®; Skintell®	Intense imaging, fast picture capture, vertical imaging; imaging of vasculature	Inadequate resolution (with the exception of HD-OCT), expensive, preferable used on healthy skin, extra instruction needed