Now, a tiny laser to detect skin cancer risks

London: Scientists have developed a new device which they claim can detect signs of melanoma – the deadliest form of skin cancer.

In fact, the new device -- a tiny laser – fires a double laser beam, with less combined energy than a laser pointer, into a suspicious mole, then analyses the locations of different skin pigments.

The scientists then look at the amount of eumelanin in the pigments that is present in greater amounts in potentially cancerous tissue. It is the first time the technique has been used, and in tests, an international team has successfully identified all eleven samples with melanoma, British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Even with a 50 per cent success rate, the device could prevent hundreds of thousands of false diagnoses of the disease across the world each year, according to team leader Thomas Matthews of Duke University.

In research, published in the 'Science Tranlational Medicine', the scientists say they plan to study thousands of archived skin slices using the laser, to predict its accuracy. Currently, doctors use either a light or magnifying glass to study a mole, or perform a tissue biopsy.

Prof Warren Warren, of Duke's Center for Molecular and Biomolecular Imaging, said that the first method was a "17th century technique that is only 85 per cent reliable". A biopsy was not much better, he added, with studies showing that in 14 per cent of biopsy diagnoses doctors disagree whether or not cells were cancerous.

With the new technique, a suspicious mole would still have to be removed for a final diagnosis of cancer, although the team is working on ways to scan a mole without removing it.