The SolarScan® digital imaging system, now being used by doctors at the (practice name), can assist in the diagnosis of melanomas long before they can be detected using traditional methods.

Australia has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world with the particularly aggressive form of skin cancer claiming more than a thousand lives a year.

Developed by the Sydney Melanoma Unit at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, the CSIRO and the medical instrument firm, Polartechnics, SolarScan® can compare images of “suspicious” moles with a database of thousands of cancerous and benign lesions.

With images recorded using SolarScan’s handheld scanner, doctors can also monitor minute changes in moles over a period of time.

“We know from studies we have done that around 80 percent of benign moles won’t change over a period of about three months while we expect all melanomas will change,” said Associate Professor Scott Menzies, the Director of the Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Centre.

“SolarScan® is helping doctors to identify melanomas in their very early stages when they can be very easily treated but are extremely difficult to detect during routine examinations,” Dr Menzies said.

“This technology is also helping to reduce the very high rate of unnecessary procedures to remove benign moles,” he added.

According to the Sydney Melanoma Unit, the survival rate falls to just 50 percent once a melanoma has spread four millimetres or more into the skin.

Polartechnics, a wholly owned Australian firm, is currently developing export markets for its award winning SolarScan® technology.


www.polartechnics.com