The role of mobile teledermoscopy in skin cancer triage and management during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The unprecedented onset of the COVID-19 crisis poses a significant challenge to all fields of medicine, including dermatology. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, a stark decline in new skin cancer diagnoses has been reported by countries worldwide. One of the greatest challenges during the pandemic has been the reduced access to face-to-face dermatologic evaluation and non-urgent procedures, such as biopsies or surgical excisions. Teledermatology is a well-integrated alternative when face-to-face dermatological assistance is not available. Teledermoscopy, an extension of teledermatology, comprises consulting dermoscopic images to improve the remote assessment of pigmented and non-pigmented lesions when direct visualisation of lesions is difficult. One of teledermoscopy’s greatest strengths may be its utility as a triage and monitoring tool, which is critical in the early detection of skin cancer, as it can reduce the number of unnecessary referrals, wait times, and the cost of providing and receiving dermatological care. Mobile teledermoscopy may act as a communication tool between medical practitioners and patients. By using their smartphone (mobile phone) patients can monitor a suspicious skin lesion identified by their medical practitioner, or alternatively self-detect concerning lesions and forward valuable dermoscopic images for remote medical evaluation. Several mobile applications that allow users to photograph suspicious lesions with their smartphones and have them evaluated using artificial intelligence technology have recently emerged. With the growing popularity of mobile apps and consumer-involved healthcare, this will likely be a key component of skin cancer screening in the years to come. However, most of these applications apply artificial intelligence technology to assess clinical images rather than dermoscopic images, which may lead to lower diagnostic accuracy. Incorporating the direct-to-consumer mobile dermoscopy model in combination with mole-scanning artificial intelligence as a mobile app may be the future of skin cancer detection.

Advancing Dermatological Care: A Comprehensive Narrative Review of Tele-Dermatology and mHealth for Bridging Gaps and Expanding Opportunities beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Nine reviews [22][23][24][25][28][29][30]36,38] and one systematic review [32]; • Twenty-five papers [21,26,27,31,[33][34][35][40][41][42][43][44][45]48,[50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60].…”

“…The search provided 40 components [ 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ] in the three years since the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (at the date of this study).…”

“…In detail, the components were: Two randomized controlled (clinical) trials (RCTs) [ 37 , 49 ]; Three observational studies (OS)s [ 39 , 46 , 47 ]; Nine reviews [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 36 , 38 ] and one systematic review [ 32 ]; Twenty-five papers [ 21 , 26 , 27 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 48 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 ]. …”

“…The reviews covered various aspects of the integration of TD and mHealth , sometimes in the context of the COVID-19 [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 36 , 38 ].…”

“…Lee et al [ 29 ] discussed how the COVID-19 pandemic affected dermatology and how TD became a popular alternative to in-person visits. Mobile TD, which allows patients to monitor and forward images of suspicious skin lesions to dermatologists for remote medical evaluation, was shown to represent a useful communication tool between medical practitioners and patients.…”