UConn Health has begun offering the latest technology to identify skin cancer and better track changing moles, becoming the first institution in the state to offer it, according to UConn Today.
The technology, called FotoFinder Bodystudio Automated Total Body Mapping, takes 20 or more photos of a patient’s entire body, including the palms and the soles of the feet, in about 10 minutes. It allows easy comparison of photographs after visits and alerts the dermatologist to changes or new growths.
“This technology is going to help us save more lives from skin cancer and melanoma,” Dr. Jane Grant-Kels, professor and vice chair of UConn Health’s Department of Dermatology and director of the UConn Cutaneous Oncology Center and Melanoma Program, told UConn Today. “It allows for early detection and a more exact science of monitoring patients’ skin changes.”
If concerning growths are detected, another new technology called In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy uses a noninvasive optical imaging technique that provides a high-resolution cellular image of the skin, often replacing the need for a skin biopsy.
With FotoFinder, the smart body-scanning camera automatically moves into various positions to take photos of the entire body, and the software rapidly stitches the photos together for the dermatologist to review.
After the patient’s follow-up photo session, the system uses its computer technology to precisely place the most recent skin images atop the baseline photos. The software analyzes the new and old photos, and then circles all the detected new and visibly changed skin lesions and moles.
