BehindTheMedspeak: MoleMate — 'Is it melanoma? Get an answer on the spot'

This new device from Astron Clinica in England is targeted at general and family practitioners who may not be confident in their ability to distinguish cancerous and benign skin lesions.

Long story short: It combines a hand-held scanner (above) with software to analyze hemoglobin, melanin and collagen up to 2mm under the skin and professes to detect suspicious lesions before they are apparent as such to the naked eye.

Does it offer a benefit to patients, or does it simply send more to the dermatologic surgeon for biopsies?

And does it dismiss as benign lesions that are precancerous?

My crack research team was unable to unearth any scientific papers published in refereed journals with such data.

The best they could do is a "Mostly say hooray for our side" press release from the manufacturer.

Since it's just being introduced in England, don't look for it here anytime soon.

For more on melanoma surveillance, revisit my post of August 6, 2005.