The Role of Reflectance Confocal Microscopy in Clinical Trials for Tumor Monitoring.
Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) allows the evaluation with superb accuracy of some skin tumors before, during, and after treatment. In clinical trials RCM has been shown to provide useful information for evaluation of efficacy of topical or systemic medication. With the recent introduction of handheld RCM a fast examination of the tumor can be done in minutes. In patients treated with surgery RCM plays a unique role to precisely map margins of the tumor in the skin surface and for the detection of subclinical recurrences. This article reviews the use of RCM in the research of different skin cancer tumor treatments.
Melanoma Unit, Department of Dermatology Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona University, Carrer Villarroel 170, Barcelona 08036, Spain; Centre of Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, Barcelona 08036, Spain. Electronic address: JMALVEHY@clinic.ub.es.
Josep Malvehy
JM
Guilera
Melanoma Unit, Department of Dermatology Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona University, Carrer Villarroel 170, Barcelona 08036, Spain; Centre of Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, Barcelona 08036, Spain.
Alicia
A
Barreiro Capurro
Melanoma Unit, Department of Dermatology Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona University, Carrer Villarroel 170, Barcelona 08036, Spain; Centre of Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, Barcelona 08036, Spain.
Cristina
C
Carrera Alvárez
Melanoma Unit, Department of Dermatology Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS, Barcelona University, Carrer Villarroel 170, Barcelona 08036, Spain; Centre of Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, Barcelona 08036, Spain.
Susana
S
Puig Sardá
D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D046169:Dermoscopy; D006801:Humans; D000069416:Intravital Microscopy; D055623:Keratosis, Actinic / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D008545:Melanoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000628:therapy; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence
Clinical trial; Reflectance confocal microscopy; Skin cancer; Tumor monitoring