Smartphone apps that claim to diagnose melanoma could be falsely reassuring people that their moles do not need medical attention, dermatologists warn.
In a letter to the British Journal of Dermatology (online), UK experts reported that one such app, MelApp was good at identifying lesions as high risk, with a specificity of 92%.
However the app was poor at ruling melanoma out, having a sensitivity of just 20%. One patient was effectively given the all-clear by the app but found, by their dermatologist, to have a superficial spreading melanoma.
“These data suggest that smartphone application technology for the risk assessment of melanomas should be utilised with caution and further studies are necessary to assess safety of the technology,” wrote the dermatologists, who tested MelApp on 35 pigmented lesions in 31 patients referred to a cancer clinic.
“These tools may help to promote self-surveillance and highlight the dangers of melanoma to the general population; however, there is concern that a patient may be dissuaded from accessing health care advice if their lesion were to be assessed as low risk. There is also no evidence to suggest that patients would select the most appropriate skin lesion to assess.”
MelApp, which costs $1.86 for Android or $1.99 from iTunes, analyses pictures of moles using an image database from Johns Hopkins Hospital in the US. It is not clear how widely the app has been downloaded.
The authors of the letter noted there were other melanoma risk-assessment apps on the market, including Skin Scan, which they did not test.
MelApp was unable to provide an assessment of 14 of 35 (40%) moles photographed. Of the remainder, it classed five as high or medium risk — all of which were excised by the specialists, including one acral lentiginous melanoma.
Six of the 16 lesions deemed low risk by the app were excised, including one superficial spreading melanoma. Ten patients were discharged.
