Photo Credit: FotografieLink

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly accurate in detecting skin cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology, recently held in Berlin. Kashini Andrew, MBBS, and colleagues examined increased sensitivity of the detection of skin cancers with continued improvement of the AI algorithm (upgraded twice since May 2020) using previously collected data (22,356 patients assessed over 2.6 years). Researchers found that the latest version of the AI software was highly sensitive in detecting all skin cancers (99.5%), precancers (92.5%), and melanoma (100%), with improved sensitivity observed over time. Out of 190 cancers, AI missed one cancer diagnosis: a basal cell carcinoma identified at the second read by the safety-net dermatologist. The latest algorithm also showed a high specificity in identifying benign lesions (75.3%). When compared with version 1 of the software, the researchers noted a slight drop in specificity for benign lesions, a potential trade-off for increased sensitivity for malignant lesions. The rate of diagnosis overturn from benign to skin cancer was 0.1%, which was a significant improvement from version 1.