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A new crash course for doctors on how to better detect melanomas could increase diagnosis of skin cancers by 20 percent, says Blenheim skin specialist Mark Foley.
Following a similar study overseas, Dr Foley is part of a group trialling a computer-based programme showing GPs how to effectively use the latest dermoscope, a light-emitting magnifying glass.
"It's a complex tool to learn to interpret. People need hundreds if not thousands of hours to gain expertise, so we asked how we can give a simple way of learning this without so many hours," Mr Foley said.
One hundred GPs around the country have enrolled in the study where they are taught three key features to recognise melanoma in just four hours by looking at the asymmetry of the structures, whether they have a blue or white appearance and how they feel to the touch.
The overseas study, which found that positive diagnoses rose from 60 to 80 percent, took four or five years to complete.
The New Zealand study started nine months ago and is expected to be finished some time next year.
Dr Foley said while the speed learning study should mirror the international result, it will not turn every doctor into a skin specialist.
"Everyone's good at using a stethoscope but that doesn't make them a cardiologist."
Of the 2000-plus GPs in New Zealand, Dr Foley says so far only 20 or 30 doctors have the latest dermascope.
He would be presenting a progress report on the study at the inaugural Melanoma Summit in Wellington next week which is being billed as "the most important day under the sun".
World leaders in the field will speak at the summit. They include Professor Mark Elwood, a Canadian cancer epidemiologist and public health medicine specialist and co-editor of one of the most comprehensive texts on the prevention of skin cancer to date.
Dr Foley said doctors in New Zealand will also be brought up to date with the launch of new national guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of melanoma, which includes increasing the excision zone around malignant melanomas from 5mm to 10mm. Melanoma is the fourth most common type of cancer for men and women in New Zealand, with nearly 2000 new cases a year.
About 300 New Zealanders die every year from skin cancer, most from melanoma, which is strongly linked to sunburn in childhood and adolescence.
- The Marlborough Express
