Barcelona is a world leader in non-invasive skin cancer diagnosis research. Possibly the most obvious expression of this is the company Diagnosis Dermatológica, based in the city, which leads Europe in innovation in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer. This is possible thanks to strategic alliances with the main European companies in this sector and in the USA, such as Fotofinder, Derma Medical, Visiomed, Scibase, Mavig, Caliber or Canfield. Dr. Josep Malvehy and Dr. Susana Puig, medical directors of Diagnosis Dermatologica, explain that the key to success lies in the ability to efficiently apply and facilitate the development and diagnostic validation of new techniques at different stages of medical development.
Its clinical facilities perform the largest number of follow-ups with digital skin imaging techniques in Europe, with more than 5,000 patients per year, including more than 1,600 patients under follow-up for melanoma and more than 3,000 patients with non-melanoma skin cancer. The center is staffed by a team of physicians and technicians specialized in complex rapid diagnostic techniques in different biophotonics modalities, including digital dermoscopy, polarized light body mapping, multimodal light diagnostics, optical coherence tomography and confocal microscopy.
Multimodal fusion confocal microscopy, a revolution in skin cancer surgery
Reflectance fluorescence fusion confocal microscopy is the most advanced fresh tissue diagnostic imaging technology that enables rapid analysis during the operative procedure. The diagnosis of the tumor is made in a few minutes and the dermatological surgeon can complete the operation ensuring that the tumor has been completely and accurately removed. This technique reduces the procedure time from sometimes several hours or even days (delayed Mohs) to a few minutes. The study was presented by Dr. J.Malvehy at the “Meeting of the International Confocal Group” 2017, Geneva.
Diagnosis dermatologique is the first center in the world to incorporate this fusion microscopy technique in Mohs surgery (surgery with 3D controlled margins). This is the fruit of an international European Union (FP7) research project initiated in 2013 co-led by Dr. J. Malvehy and Dr. S. Puig.
Diagnosis Dermatológica is also responsible for training in multimodal confocal microscopy, which uses different lasers to obtain histological images of the tissue in just a few seconds. Dr. Puig comments that with this technology the diagnosis is immediate and surgery time is extremely reduced, with the guarantee that the tumor has been completely removed. It is currently the most advanced technology for intraoperative control of tumor margins.
Dr. Malvehy explains that “skin cancer is the most frequent of all cancers and its incidence is increasing rapidly throughout Europe. Despite advances in treatment with new drugs, early diagnosis is the most effective treatment to prevent complications of this cancer”. It should be remembered that in the case of melanoma, the most aggressive skin tumor in terms of mortality, its incidence triples every decade, affecting adult patients of all ages. It is the most frequent cancer in Europe in women aged 25-29 years and in men aged 30-35 years. This reflects the great impact of this tumor on young patients.
For this reason it is essential to improve primary and secondary prevention of this type of tumor, focusing on education, early detection and identification of risk factors and population. In this sense, people with a personal or family history of skin cancer, those with many nevi (moles) or those with chronically sun-damaged skin should benefit from specialized diagnosis and follow-up. In this regard, discoveries in rapid diagnosis and treatment are a clear advance in preventing complications from these types of tumors.