THE INVISIBLE COLORS OF MELANOMA - A TELESPECTROPHOTOMETRIC DIAGNOSTIC-APPROACH ON PIGMENTED SKIN-LESIONS

Reflectance images of 43 pigmented lesions of the skin (18 melanomas, 17 common melanocytic naevi and eight dysplastic naevi) were acquired by a telespectrophotometric system and were analysed in the spectral r ange from 420 to 1040 nm, to discriminate melanoma from benign melanoc ytic entities. Different evaluations were carried out considering the whole spectrum, the visible and the near infrared. A total of 33 (76.7 %) lesions were correctly diagnosed by the telespectrophotometric syst em, compared with 35 (81.4%) correct clinical diagnoses. Reflectance i n the infra-red band appears diagnostically relevant. A larger study i s needed to prove the validity of this diagnostic method. (C) 1996 Els evier Science Ltd