eSkin: Study on the Smartphone Application for Early Detection of Malignant Melanoma

Abstract

Background. Malignant melanoma is among the fastest increasing malignancies in many countries. With the help of new tools, such as teledermoscopy referrals between primary healthcare and dermatology clinics, the diagnosis of these patients could be made more efficient. The introduction of a high-quality smartphone with a built-in digital camera may make the early detection more convenient. This study presents novel directions for early detection of malignant melanoma based on a smartphone application. Objectives and Methods. In this study, we concentrate on a precise description of a complex infrastructure of a fully automated computer-aided diagnostic system for early detection of malignant melanoma. The framework has been customized for a dermoscope that is customized to attach to the smartphone to be able to carry out mobile teledermoscopy. The application requirements, architecture, and computational methods as well as behavioral and dynamic aspects have been presented in this paper. Conclusion. This paper presents a broad application architecture, which can be easily customized for rapid deployment of a sophisticated health application. Mobile teledermoscopy is a new horizon that might become in the future the basis of the early detection of pigmented skin lesions as a screening tool for primary care doctors and inexperienced dermatologists.