1. ¹Department of Dermatology, Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust, Carshalton, UK
2. ²Joint Department of Physics, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden NHS Trust, Sutton, UK

Correspondence: Dr Deepak Rallan, 89 Windsor Court, Chase Side, London N14 5HT, UK. E-mail: deepakrallan@aol.com

Received 14 September 2005; Revised 12 January 2006; Accepted 9 March 2006; Published online 26 October 2006.

Abstract

High-resolution ultrasound-reflex transmission imaging is a non-invasive method that can be performed in vivo. We have adapted and refined this technique for skin imaging. Scans can be analyzed to produce objective parameters. Previous work has highlighted sonographic differences between benign and malignant lesions. The aim of this study was to produce and test numerical parameters from ultrasound skin images that would quantify the acoustic differences between common pigmented lesions, which may aid their discrimination from melanoma. We report our findings for randomly selected patients referred from primary care with suspected melanoma. Those subsequently classified as malignant melanoma (MM), seborrheic keratosis (SK), and benign nevi by a consultant dermatologist (n=87) were imaged by high-resolution ultrasound-reflex transmission imaging. Using surrounding normal skin as a control, numerical sonographic parameters were derived for each lesion giving a relative measure of surface sound reflectance, intra-lesional sound reflection, total sound attenuation, and the relative uniformity of each parameter across the tumor. Significant quantitative differences existed between benign and malignant pigmented lesions studied. Sufficient discrimination was produced between MM (n=25), SKs (n=24) and other benign-pigmented lesions (n=38) to potentially reduce the referral of benign tumors by 65% without missing melanoma.