Katharina Buczek
Beginning in November of 2020, she and her team conducted a pilot study using the mobile app SkinIO.
This platform allows everyday people to take high-resolution photos of potentially cancerous growths and send them to medical teams for review.
The study aimed to ascertain the app’s effectiveness among twenty-seven residents who lived in a San Francisco Bay Area retirement community. And just last month, the study’s results were finally published in Skin Health and Disease.
First, research coordinators visited the retirement facility and captured full-body images of the residents on the app.
The app was then able to analyze and scan each photo for skin abnormalities using machine learning. Any lesion that looked suspicious was flagged for more in-depth review by dermatologists.
Afterward, the research coordinators forwarded the photos to Sarin, who analyzed and flagged any patients’ lesions that appeared cancerous.
Finally, virtual visits were scheduled for Sarin to meet with all of the patients and go over her findings.
Of all the skin lesions captured, the app flagged sixty-three percent of them as potentially cancerous.
Most of the abnormalities did end up being benign. However, the technology also helped Sarin identify skin cancer in three out of the twenty-seven patients.
The research team is now brainstorming how to successfully educate older adults on taking these pictures without a staff aide.
This would help grow the app’s reach without relying on limited hospital staff and resources to dispatch them.
