British technology company Skin Analytics has received regulatory approval for its DERM app, an autonomous artificial intelligence-based skin cancer detection system that can be used on smartphones. Detecting skin cancer at an early stage increases survival rates. The technology allows for a patient’s skin to be photographed and diagnosed almost instantly. The sun’s warm rays are not always good for some people’s skin. Europe is facing a severe shortage of dermatologists, with around 30 dermatologists per million inhabitants.
Skin cancer is one of the most treatable forms of the disease, if detected in its early stages. British health officials say that skin cancer rates have increased by 170% over the past decade and 11% of emergency cases have to wait more than a month to see a doctor. The company “Skin Analytics” is demonstrating the new technology “DERM AI” in London. The application in question works on most smartphones and requires an additional lens that allows for a photo of the skin and an almost instant diagnosis. “The process is simple and straightforward. As you can see, I opened the application that activates the camera and selects the part of the body where we will photograph. The quality of the photo must be as good as possible for the artificial intelligence to evaluate. After choosing the best photo, the result comes out within a few seconds, providing details of what it means. The image is stored in the system to be compared with subsequent results”.
Artificial intelligence compares a patient’s skin image to a library of images and then provides a result. Skin Analytics says that DERM has a 98.8% accuracy rate in diagnosing. Neil Daly, founder and CEO of Skin Analytics, explains how the technology behind the DERM app is already on most smartphones. “We can use a variety of different smartphones to take a picture of the suspected area of skin. We use a special lens that attaches to the phone to take a very high-quality image. This type of technology allows many patients to be seen in a short time because of the availability of smartphones.”
The European Medical Devices Regulator has given the green light to the app, making it the first autonomous AI-powered device authorised for cancer detection. Around 21 UK hospitals are using the app and have tested around 135 patients. Skin Analytics says the technology has helped diagnose more than 000 patients with skin cancer. 13,000 years in development, the AI-powered DERM app relies on a vast library of data and images.
