What's New In Digital Health

Total body Photography is set to be one of the next big technologies in dermatology. Although a massive improvement from traditional imaging methods, many systems fail to solve all of the concerns faced by medical experts. Discover the top 5 ways artificial intelligence (AI) is pairing with these systems in dermatology to streamline practices like never imagined.

1.Imaging Flexibility
The problem: Currently, the average full-body imaging software is quite large, often requiring its own dedicated room.

The solution:  In contrast, dermatology apps such as DermEngine are taking advantage of the high resolution of new phone models to offer a solution where dermatologists can simply capture full-body images from their phone. These are then automatically saved to a patient’s profile on their 3D Body Map and synced with the web platform for later review.

2.Connectivity Costs
The problem: As mentioned in the previous point, total body photography systems often take up large amounts of space. These instruments of precision require maintenance and installation costs in addition to initial purchase costs.

The solution: Cloud-based dermatology solutions are becoming increasingly cheaper, with full-body imaging services costing as little as $50 per month. Additionally, having data stored on cloud servers allows for information to be securely stored while eliminating any expensive installations or updates.

3.Automated Documentation
The problem: Many full-body imaging systems require the medical professional or nurse to manually document or upload the images to a separate documentation system, resulting in tedious and repetitive work.

The solution: Artificial intelligence algorithms have been applied to dermatology EMR software such as DermEngine to automatically identify spots within a body part image and add them to the patient’s 3D body map. Known as MoleMap, this feature streamlines a process which could otherwise take hours.

4.Smart Imaging Detection
The problem: Even with the aid of images, dermatologists can experience difficulty identifying an changes to a patient’s skin over time (especially those that are subtle).

The solution: Tools such as MoleMatch automatically match the spots between images taken at separate times and then document any changes in order of priority. Building on this concept, this intelligent dermoscopy tool also offers Flicker and Difference features. The Flicker tool overlays the two images and “flicker” between them to help the dermatologist better identify any changes. The Difference tool blacks out the newest image and highlights any changes that the algorithm has identified from the previous one to once again better support doctors in their clinical decisions.

5.Centralized Solution
The problem: Once the patient’s images are stored, how easy will it be to add/transfer that data to other software for further analysis? Since many dermatology software fail to possess interoperable capabilities, the full value of the data often never leaves the system.

The solution: In order to medical professionals to tap into the full potential of a software, the platform must offer methods to seamlessly transfer data between systems without the loss of meaning or quality. Defined as interoperability, this is one of the biggest challenges currently facing dermatology, and is one of the many reasons dermatologists are switching to newer, cloud-based EMR software which offer this as a baseline feature.

Conclusion
As total body photography software continues to grow in popularity, it is clear that its most valuable applications are not as a standalone machine, but as one component of a larger system. Backed by interoperability and artificial intelligence, this will soon be the common solution for quality, streamlined skin cancer imaging in dermatology practices around the world.