Laser-scanning confocal microscopy

Abstract

Early detection is critical to the successful treatment and survival of patients with melanoma. A dermatologist's sensitivity in detecting melanoma by visual clinical examination is reported to be in the range of 65% to 80% [26, 42]. Dermoscopy, which provides a magnified image of a lesion, can improve diagnostic accuracy to as high as 85% for clinicians who are highly trained in the use of dermoscopy [8]. However, sensitivity is still unacceptably low for a life threatening disease. Therefore, development of non-invasive high-resolution techniques for imaging melanocytic lesions in situ in the patient is highly desirable since they may increase diagnostic accuracy. © 2007 Springer-Verlag.