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New Device to Detect Skin Cancer From A Picture?
JonathanGCohen writes "News.com is reporting on a new machine that can tell you all about your skin's unique features (excessive oil, UV damage, etc.) using an image scan and software to analyze it. Its inventors plan on developing a version that can even detect skin cancer." From the article: "Apart from numbers, the technology, called Clarity Pro, can depict the depth and severity of wrinkles in a 3D chart, show the extent of bacteria-filled pores in a graph, or represent UV damage in purple dots scattered about your face in a white-light image. It can also calculate how long a person can be exposed to the sun, in minutes or hours a day, before incurring more UV damage."
For those of us that are at a high risk for skin cancer, this may be the beginning of something very good.
My father was diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer when I was 16 and had to have a fair bit of skin from his legs removed. I went to see a dermatologist shortly afterwards who told me, and I quote, "You'll get skin cancer, it's just a matter of when." When you're 16, this is a pretty scary thing to hear from a doctor, but it's the best thing she could have done. Because of her warning, I check myself regularly (and have others check where I can't from time to time). I go see a dermatologist once a year for a checkup.
At the age of 32, I noticed a mole that wasn't quite right. Turned out to be squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). I was living on the beach in Southern Mexico at the time which probably isn't the best place for a person of my skin type, but I'm generally pretty careful about sun exposure. Anyway, the doctor told me he had never had anyone catch one so early. Had it not been for the doctor warning me 16 years earlier, I may have waited long enough that a simple excision wouldn't have been possible.
I've known two people who have had melanoma. One died before his 20s and the other just barely caught it in time but has huge scars on his back from where it was removed. Early detection is crucial for those of us at risk. Melanoma is one of the most virulant and fatal forms of cancer. Caught early, it's very treatable, but the difference between early and too late can sometimes be a matter of just weeks.
If this technology can become widespread and people at risk are given access to it, I have little question that it could save a lot of lives.
Another reason to outlaw collecting biometrics...
How cool: it can analyze a photo of you... and then your medical insurance provider can deny you medical insurance or charge you a higher premium due to your being in a higher "risk group".
Just like they can look at whether you have an attached or detached ear lobe, and know whether or not you have a family history of coronary artery disease, or look at your thumb print, and know whether or not you have one of the three identified high risk genes for liver cancer, or see that you're black, and so have a higher risk of sicle cell.
Unfortunately, a given gene can express in more than one way, including ways which are visible to biometric devices, or even the naked eye of a trained person. This is just another reason why biometric information should not be allowed to be collected or disclosed except under very specific conditions (e.g. HIPPA rules keep your doctor's office from selling information to drug companies or, worse, insurance companies).
-- Terry
You are probably right about the fact that companies seem more and more intent on comodifying a level of "peace of mind" whose demands only grow as we become more and more intolerant of unforseen or imponderable events (i.e., life). However, skin cancer is no joke. My father has skin cancer he got from working in the middle east during the 70's when watching out for the sun wasn't as common as it is now. Every year we worry his cancer could pass to other organs and become more threatening, every couple of months he has to undergo expensive and often painful treatments. Believe me, skin cancer is no joke, and if you could have peace of mind for a few bucks, it would be a worthwhile investment.
Slashdot: news from nerds.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure
Being able to do high resolution scans of the body has been one of the biggest reasons of the recent drop in cancer mortality. Cancer treatments have improved over the years, sure, but the biggest reason that fewer people are dying from breast and colon cancer is that we can find tumors when they're small and treatable, and we don't have to wait until they're large and metastasized to 3 different organ systems before finding out that a person has cancer. Same with skin cancer. Finding a carcinoma before it invades past the basement membrane has a much better prognosis than if it becomes invasive.
This type of interaction with the editors of /. are exactly what many people wanted - I'm happy to see that you are all appearing more approachable now. It really does help people's image of the site, when they learn that the admins are actually taking into consideration the various comments and complaints.
:)
The improvement is great. Please, keep it up
Imaging-based skin diagnostics is an obvious and useful thing to do, but a lot of research and clinical studies still need to be done in order to develop, test, and validate it. If this company's patents stand, it will ensure that none of that is going to happen, because they themselves are not equipped to handle it or finance it even under the rosiest of forecasts, and nobody else has any reason to work on it if they can't use it afterwards.