TELEMO (An innovative TELEmedicine system for the early screening of Melanoma in Overall Population)

Project purpose is the design and development a new telemedicine system for the screening of melanoma combining clinical requirements with in vivo Raman spectroscopy. The aim of our project will not be the replacement of the dermatologists in the diagnosis process, but the development of a system for supporting thembased on Raman spectroscopy device. The proposed device will be designed to be managed in ""point of care"" (e.g. drugstore or penitentiary surgery) by trained personnel in a safe environment. Since, to obtain standardized, accurate and repeatable measures requires not only the use of suitable devices but also the appropriate management by trained personnel. The proposed device includes an innovative digital tele-dermatoscope integrated with an automatic optical and multispectral image analysis system, a computerized data management system and a telemedicine infrastructure devoted for dermatology. Our system can allow the access to expert dermatologists of disadvantaged population, like older persons living in remote locations. In summary, our telemedicine system will allow: i) automatic estimation of the features of the skin lesion and of the diagnostic indices; ii) the standardization of the diagnostic process of melanoma; iii) the identification and fast reporting of patients with high-risk of melanoma; iv) the implementation of a cloud database of skin lesions suitable for training of junior doctors and for research of new diagnostic and prognostic indices.

Members:
Mario D'acunto (Principal investigator)
Gianmarco Lazzini
Gianluca Presciuttini