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Medicine

The final frontier in cancer diagnosis

Nature volume 542, pages 36–38 (2017)Cite this article

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A computer, trained to classify skin cancers using image analysis alone, can now identify certain cancers as successfully as can skin-cancer doctors. What are the implications for the future of medical diagnosis? See Letter p.115

In the 1960s, the science-fiction television series Star Trek presented a vision of the future in which physician Dr Leonard McCoy used a portable diagnostic device, known as a tricorder, to assess the medical condition of Captain James Kirk and other Enterprise crew members. Although fanciful then, machines capable of the non-invasive diagnosis of human disease are becoming a reality, as are mobile devices that can image human skin to enable the identification of some cancers1,2. A study on page 115 by Esteva et al.3 has taken image-recognition technology to the next level by training a computer to classify digital images of skin lesions at least as accurately as can human skin-cancer specialists.

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Figure 1: Accurate cancer diagnosis by computer.

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References

  1. Maier, T. et al. J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 29, 663–667 (2015).

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  2. Gareau, D. S. et al. Exp. Dermatol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/exd.13250 (2016).

  3. Esteva, A. et al. Nature 542, 115–118 (2017).

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Author notes

  1. Glenn Merlino is in the Laboratory of Cancer Biology and Genetics, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

  2. gmerlino@helix.nih.gov

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sancy A. Leachman is in the Department of Dermatology, Melanoma Research Program, Knight Cancer Institute, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA.,

    Sancy A. Leachman & Glenn Merlino

Authors
  1. Sancy A. Leachman
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  2. Glenn Merlino
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Correspondence to Sancy A. Leachman or Glenn Merlino.

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Leachman, S., Merlino, G. The final frontier in cancer diagnosis. Nature 542, 36–38 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature21492

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