Differentiation among basal cell carcinoma, benign lesions, and normal skin using electric impedance

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary study showing the diagnostic potential of electrical impedance to detect basal cell carcinoma (BCC). Electrical impedance was measured in vivo from 1 kHz to 1 MHz on 24 human subjects over BCC (19 lesions), over benign tumors (11 lesions), and over normal skin (all 24 patients). Lesions ranged from 2-15 mm in diameter. Indexes based on the magnitude (MIX), phase (PIX), real-part (RIX) and imaginary-part (IMIX) of impedance were calculated for each measurement. Significant differences were found between measurements over BCC, benign lesions and normal skin for indexes MIX, PIX, and IMIX (P = 0.04 to P = 7 x 10(-7)). Indexes were generally smaller for measurements of BCC than for benign lesions or normal skin. Differences were not a result of differences in the patient's age or the measurement location. The large size of our measurement electrode (10 mm) probably limited our ability to differentiate lesions because significant amounts of normal skin were included in each lesion measurement. A linear regression fit of data with tumor size suggests that a smaller probe or more sophisticated analysis techniques may improve differentiation. Results suggest that electrical impedance could be used to provide rapid and noninvasive differentiation of BCC from similar looking benign lesions.

Electrical Bioimpedance Cerebral Monitoring

“…Examples of this are skin cancer screening (D. G. Beetner et al 2003) and methods for detection of tumours (C. Skourou et al 2004, C. Skourou et al 2007, meningitis (B. K. Van Kreel 2001), brain cellular edema (B. E. , and breast cancer (M. . All these applications depend on the EBI recorded over a wide frequency range.…”

Non-Invasive Reflectometry-Based Detection of Melanoma by Piezoelectric Micro-Needle Antenna Sensors

“…The growth of the melanoma results in a local variation of permittivity and electrical conductivity of the dermis [2]. This in turn provides an effective means for the early prediction of potential malignancy and monitoring of the extension of anomalous cells as a function of time by means of electrically small antenna sensors [1].…”

Design and Full-Wave Analysis of Piezoelectric Micro-Needle Antenna Sensors for Enhanced Near-Field Detection of Skin Cancer

“…As a matter of fact, the pre-operative discrimination between benign and cancerous tissues in the dermis and, in particular, the early prediction of potential malignancy can be carried out conveniently by measuring the electrical characteristics of the skin. In-vivo experiments have outlined that normal skin and malignant lesions differ significantly in their content of water, salts and proteins, which in turn affects the local complex permittivity value of the tissue under test [3,4]. Thereby, the retrieval and monitoring of physiological parameters relevant to potentially harmful tumors may be achieved by evaluating the return-loss response of a suitable antenna sensor as a function of the dielectric properties at microwave frequencies of the material being investigated.…”