A team of researchers are developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based system that might help detect melanoma skin cancer early. The technology will employs machine-learning software to analyse images of skin lesions and provides doctors with objective data on telltale biomarkers of melanoma, deadly disease if detected too late, but highly treatable if diagnosed early. The AI system, trained using tens of thousands of skin images and their corresponding eumelanin and hemoglobin levels - could initially reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies, a significant health-care cost.
Changes in the concentration and distribution of eumelanin, a chemical that gives skin its colour, and hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells, are strong indicators of melanoma. The new system gives doctors objective information on lesion characteristics to help them rule out melanoma before taking more…
