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Updated: Aug 19, 2026
Quantitative Visualization and Detection of Skin Cancer Using Dynamic Thermal Imaging
Published on: May 5, 2011
Early detection of skin cancer by family physicians: a pilot project
Gillian C de Gannes1, Janet L Ip, Magdalena Martinka
1University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Background:
Malignant melanoma is rising quickly in incidence and mortality rates. Family physicians (FPs) have been reported to lack confidence in diagnosing skin cancers.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to determine whether an educational intervention can improve FPs' abilities to diagnose skin cancers.
Methods:
The design was a prospective, randomized trial which included a skin cancer questionnaire, a video intervention, and a skin biopsy review.
Results:
Pre-intervention, FPs answered 57% of the questions correctly on the skin cancer questionnaire. Post-intervention, the video intervention group scored higher than did the control group. The video intervention group removed 10% fewer benign lesions and almost 3 times more malignant lesions compared with their pre-intervention biopsy rate. No findings were statistically significant.
Conclusion:
An educational intervention may improve FPs' knowledge and diagnosis of skin cancer. Our results may guide future studies with larger sample sizes in developing a skin cancer continuing medical education (CME) course for FPs.
