information:extraction
Diagnosis

Diagnosis is by biopsy and histopathological examination.

Non-invasive skin cancer detection methods include photography, dermatoscopy, sonography, confocal microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, terahertz spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, the multispectral imaging technique, thermography, electrical bio-impedance, tape stripping and computer-aided analysis.

Dermatoscopy may be useful in diagnosing basal cell carcinoma in addition to skin inspection.

There is insufficient evidence that optical coherence tomography (OCT) is useful in diagnosing melanoma or squamous cell carcinoma. OCT may have a role in diagnosing basal cell carcinoma but more data is needed to support this.

Computer-assisted diagnosis devices have been developed that analyze images from a dermatoscope or spectroscopy and can be used by a diagnostician to aid in the detection of skin cancer. CAD systems have been found to be highly sensitive in the detection of melanoma, but have a high false-positive rate. There is not yet enough evidence to recommend CAD as compared to traditional diagnostic methods.

High-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) is of unclear usefulness in the diagnosis of skin cancer. There is insufficient evidence for reflectance confocal microscopy to diagnose basal cell or squamous cell carcinoma or any other skin cancers.