Assessment of skin lesions and skin cancer using simple electrical impedance indices.
OBJECTIVE
Purpose of this investigation was to assess benign pigmented cellular nevus (BEN), basal cell carcinoma (BCC), dermatofibroma (DER), dysplastic nevus (DYS), and seborrheic keratoses (SEB) using in vivo non- invasive electrical impedance technique.


METHODS
Electrical impedance was measured at 258 BEN, 34 BCC, 17 DER, 35 DYS, and 26 SEB lesions. Controls were measured at healthy skin close to the lesions. The impedance was measured between 1 kHz and 1 MHz at five depth settings. After the impedance measurements the lesions were histopathologically diagnosed. The impedance spectra were parameterized to four indices prior to the statistical analysis of the data.


RESULTS
There were significant differences between the lesions and their controls for BEN (P < 0.001), BCC (P < 0.001), DYS (P < 0.01), and SEB (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
There are clear statistical differences between impedance of common lesions and control skin. With some further developments, the impedance technique can be useful as a diagnostic decision support tool for skin cancer assessment.
Aberg
Peter
P
Division of Medical Engineering, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. peter.aberg@labtek.ki.se
Nicander
Ingrid
I
Holmgren
Ulf
U
Geladi
Paul
P
Ollmar
Stig
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004568:Electrodiagnosis / Q000295:instrumentation; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*