Late stage development of a skin cancer detection service

"Skin Analytics has developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) solution for the detection of skin cancer from images taken by a smartphone camera with a dermoscopic lens attachment. Our vision is to reduce the number of deaths from the disease while significantly reducing the cost of finding skin cancer.

We have shown our skin cancer detection service (called DERM) can identify cases of malignant melanoma (MM), Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) with a high degree of accuracy from historical images of skin lesions. We have conducted a clinical validation study with seven NHS Trusts on the melanoma detection algorithm, and in this project we will do the same for the non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC). We will also conduct research into whether we can detect changes in lesions over time, which would be important for doctors who want to 'watch and wait' suspicious lesions. This project includes the clinical studies required to complete this work.

A large part of the project aims to integrate DERM into the NHS. This involves both the technical integration with the systems used by GPs etc, and securing the relevant regulatory clearances, but also gaining an understanding of the patient pathways and how DERM might affect them, exploring barriers to adoption, and gaining user feedback on the soaftware. We will also conduct an initial health economic analysis of the costs/benefits of a skin cancer service in the NHS.

At the end of the project Skin Analytics will have sufficient clinical, user experience, health economic data and regulatory clearance to support the implementation of DERM in different clinical practices across the NHS."