mPatch: a rapid test for improving diagnosis and triage of melanoma patients in primary care
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Bioengineering
Abstract
Cancers of the skin are the most common of all cancers and affect almost equally women and men. The number of cases is increasing rapidly, including for melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer. The way skin cancers are diagnosed has barely evolved in recent years despite being very subjective and inefficient.
How they are currently diagnosed: Initial diagnosis in primary care typically begins with a visual inspection by a GP, looking for physical abnormalities of a suspected mole or lesion. If it looks suspicious, the GP will recommend an urgent 2-week-wait (2WW) referral with a dermatologist who will then do a more thorough visual examination and then do a skin biopsy. The biopsy will then be sent for a lengthy and costly analysis before a final diagnosis can be made. Although the large majority (>94%) of melanoma patients are sent on the 2WW referral pathway, 96% of people sent on this pathway do not have melanoma. This causes unnecessary stress and scarring and is also very costly to the NHS. Over £35 million are spent every year on unnecessary diagnostic procedures for skin cancer only.
The need for a new, less subjective test: There is therefore an urgent need for new diagnostic tests that can help clinicians in primary care improve the quality of their referral. Reducing the number of healthy people sent unnecessarily on the 2WW pathway with also help reduce the current pressure on dermatologists. Our solution is to provide GPs with a new affordable and painless device to be used alongside visual inspection for a more informed diagnosis.
A painless skin patch and a result within 24h: Painlessly applied near the suspicious skin lesion, our skin patch will collect cancer-specific molecules contained within the skin fluid. It will then be sent to a centralised lab for a rapid (24h) analysis similar to that done for Covid testing. With an accuracy comparable to that of a skin biopsy, our test will help GPs identify those skin cancer patients that require urgent intervention. In this project, we will experimentally demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of our test on human skin biopsies taken and already analysed by dermatologists. We will also engage with GPs and patient groups when developing our prototype. This is to ensure it is well accepted and can be rapidly included into the current skin cancer diagnostic pathway within the NHS.
How they are currently diagnosed: Initial diagnosis in primary care typically begins with a visual inspection by a GP, looking for physical abnormalities of a suspected mole or lesion. If it looks suspicious, the GP will recommend an urgent 2-week-wait (2WW) referral with a dermatologist who will then do a more thorough visual examination and then do a skin biopsy. The biopsy will then be sent for a lengthy and costly analysis before a final diagnosis can be made. Although the large majority (>94%) of melanoma patients are sent on the 2WW referral pathway, 96% of people sent on this pathway do not have melanoma. This causes unnecessary stress and scarring and is also very costly to the NHS. Over £35 million are spent every year on unnecessary diagnostic procedures for skin cancer only.
The need for a new, less subjective test: There is therefore an urgent need for new diagnostic tests that can help clinicians in primary care improve the quality of their referral. Reducing the number of healthy people sent unnecessarily on the 2WW pathway with also help reduce the current pressure on dermatologists. Our solution is to provide GPs with a new affordable and painless device to be used alongside visual inspection for a more informed diagnosis.
A painless skin patch and a result within 24h: Painlessly applied near the suspicious skin lesion, our skin patch will collect cancer-specific molecules contained within the skin fluid. It will then be sent to a centralised lab for a rapid (24h) analysis similar to that done for Covid testing. With an accuracy comparable to that of a skin biopsy, our test will help GPs identify those skin cancer patients that require urgent intervention. In this project, we will experimentally demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of our test on human skin biopsies taken and already analysed by dermatologists. We will also engage with GPs and patient groups when developing our prototype. This is to ensure it is well accepted and can be rapidly included into the current skin cancer diagnostic pathway within the NHS.
