The most lethal type of skin cancer known to man is Amelanotic/hypomelanotic Melanoma (AHM). Its clinical manifestation is non-specific, and hence diagnosis is difficult. Dermoscopy and RMC (Reflectance Confocal Microscopy) are effectively used as non-invasive methods to diagnose skin lesions. This study is a systematic investigation of these diagnostic techniques.
The study determines the accuracy of dermoscopy and RCM systematically. By comparing the two methods, it becomes possible to ascertain their relative value. Eligible cases from several databases are the population for this set of studies. Test sensitivity is the capability of a given test to identify the condition accurately. The researchers used sensitivity analyses to explore the different diagnosis methods. For analysis, this method uses the random effects model in Stata 14, RevMan 5.3, Meta-DiSc, and SAS 9.4 to calculate the pooled results.
The method includes seven studies on a total of 1111 lesions. Dermoscopy showed a pooled sensitivity of 61%, while its specificity was 90%. In comparison, RCM sensitivity was 67%, with specificity at 89%. The model used three studies to ascertain relative diagnostic odds of RCM over dermoscopy. The outcome was 4.69 for a confidence interval of 95% with P = 0.068.
Both dermoscopy and RCM were moderately sensitive, highly specific diagnostic methods for AHM. RCM is more accurate than dermoscopy, but the comparison is not concrete.
Ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjd.19270
