Ricerc@Sapienza

Confocal microscopy represents one of the most recent and promising innovations in the field of early diagnosis of skin tumors. Currently it allows, in association with dermatoscopic observation, a greater specificity and sensitivity for the diagnosis of melanocytic and not-melanocytic skin tumors compared to dermoscopy alone. In particular, its usefulness is maximum for the evaluation of small skin lesions or those that pose doubts to the dermatoscopic evaluation. It also allows the identification of skin carcinomas in the initial development phase and to evaluate precancerous lesions in order to highlight the degree of severity and above all to identify possible outbreaks of carcinoma in the context of these lesions.
The aim of the project is to identify the confocal microscopy criteria that correlate with cutaneous carcinoma in the initial phase of development starting from a precancerous lesion or from apparently healthy skin, especially when it comes to small lesions ( Specifically, the project is divided into 4 phases: 1) in vivo evaluation with confocal microscopy of suspected skin lesions, 2) final diagnosis obtained by histological examination, 3) analysis of the data obtained with measuring of the sensitivity and specificity of the method, 4) real possibility of applying the method to daily clinical practice.
The primary objective of this project is to be able to identify confocal microscopy criteria that are sufficiently sensitive and specific to identify skin carcinomas in the early phase of development, that is when the lesions are still too small to have sufficient criteria for a correct clinical and / or dermatoscopic diagnosis or when the tumor lesion is not yet evident in the context of a pre-existing precancerous lesion or photo-damaged skin. This is to optimize the possibilities of early diagnosis. Secondary objectives are the production of line guides, cost-benefit evaluation, reduction of unnecessary surgical procedures.