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YOUR HEALTH: A camera system to limit skin biopsies

A first-of-its-kind tool that is becoming a game-changer in the fight against melanoma

MIAMI — Early detection is so important with some many illnesses.

And if you love the sun, you need to keep an eye on your skin.

When detected early the five-year survival rate for melanoma, one of the deadliest' s cancers, is 99%. 

Now, doctors are using artificial intelligence to increase their odds of catching cancer early.

The Vectra WB-360 is a total body mapping system.

It's also a first-of-its-kind tool that is becoming a game-changer. 

Using 92 cameras, the machine takes multiple pictures in less than ten seconds.

"Then the system creates, like a 3D images, what we call avatar of the patient, and we can navigate in every single lesion, every part of the skin," said Dr. Naiara Braghiroli, a dermatologist at Baptist Health's Miami Cancer Institute.

The Vectra also uses artificial technology to track changes, such as size, color, and irregularities over time.

"And these are going to give us a number that's going to tell us if the lesion is more likely to be malignant or not," said Dr. Braghiroli, 

It reduces the need for unnecessary biopsies.

There are about 15 Vectra mapping systems in the world.  Ten of them are located in the United States in New York, Virginia, and Florida.

"Machines are going to make us better doctors," said dermatologist Dr. Jill Waibel.

The mapping system does not replace an evaluation by a dermatologist.

Instead, doctors say it's supposed to be used with a dermatologist to monitor high-risk patients. 

Other Melanoma Research

For patients with cancers that do not respond to immunotherapy drugs, adjusting the composition of microorganisms in the intestines, known as the gut microbiome, using stool, or fecal, transplants may help some of these individuals respond to the immunotherapy drugs.

Researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Center for Cancer Research, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, conducted the study in collaboration with investigators from UPMC Hillman Cancer Center at the University of Pittsburgh. 

In the study, some patients with advanced melanoma who initially did not respond to treatment with an immune checkpoint inhibitor, a type of immunotherapy, did respond to the drug after receiving a transplant of fecal microbiota from a patient who had responded to the drug. 

The results suggest that introducing certain fecal microorganisms into a patient's colon may help the patient respond to drugs that enhance the immune system's ability to recognize and kill tumor cells. 

If this story has impacted your life or prompted you or someone you know to seek or change treatments, please let us know by contacting Jim Mertens at jim.mertens@wqad.com or Marjorie Bekaert Thomas at mthomas@ivanhoe.com.

 

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