Applications / Clinical Dermatology
The EPISCAN is able to image the human skin to very high resolution and to differentiate between subtle changes in tissue structure. Thus it is an ideal tool for dermatologists to assess various conditions and diseases, determine the effectiveness of treatments and to help plan surgery.
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Skin Cancer and Lesion Assessment
High frequency ultrasound can be used to map skin lesions; enabling clinicians to quantitatively assess the impact of non-surgical treatments such as photo dynamic therapy (PDT) and to provide input into surgical planning.
Skin Cancer Assessment
One determining factor on whether or not a pigmented feature is potentially malignant melanoma or merely a superficial skin discoloration is its depth of penetration. High resolution ultrasound (HRUS) has the potential to accurately map skin lesions, including providing data on their depth, enabling better surgical planning. Therefore HRUS can provide dermatologists with a rapid screening tool for the early detection of invasive pigmented features that require skin biopsy and can lessen the incidence of unnecessary biopsies.
The accurate mapping of lesions can be used to establish more define margins which will help to develop a more precise surgical plan. This can be utilized in two ways; when applied to Mohs surgery, it can be used to reduce the number of surgical sections needed to clear the margins of a lesion, leading to better utilization of clinician’s time and facilities, reduce costs and lessen patient discomfort. When applied to conventional surgery, it will increase the probability that lesion margins are cleared, thus reducing the probability of tumor reoccurrence. Dependant upon the tumor size and type, the probability of a lesion reoccurring at an excision site is between 50 and 90% within a five year period.
The EPISCAN can also be used to monitor the effectiveness of non- surgical procedures that are becoming more commonly used to treat skin cancers. For example the EPISCAN is being used by a cancer hospital in the UK to monitor the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (a non-surgical skin cancer treatment) on skin lesions.
In addition to imaging the skin high frequency ultrasound can be used to image nails and nail beds.
