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A survey consisting of 29 questions was given to members of the International Dermoscopy Society to investigate clinician perceptions and behavior in approaching patients with skin tumors and to propose an updated system of triage.
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Although 81.7% of the respondents reported using dermoscopy for patients presenting with skin tumors, only 37.4% screened all patients regardless of the presenting condition.
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The average waiting time for a regular patient consultation exceeded 1 month for 38.1% of the
A Clinico-Dermoscopic Approach for Skin Cancer Screening: Recommendations Involving a Survey of the International Dermoscopy Society
Section snippets
Key points
Background
Skin malignancy is a major global health concern in white populations because of the significant incidence of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) in fair-skinned individuals, coupled with its potential morbidity and mortality. Screening for melanoma in particular is considered challenging for 2 main reasons: the first is related to the potential mortality of melanoma if early recognition and removal is not carried out and the second concerns the high incidence of its benign counterpart,
Methods
An e-mail of invitation for the questionnaire-type survey was sent on July 29, 2011 to all 5361 members of the IDS (http://www.dermoscopy-ids.org). The objective of the survey was to determine the attitudes and clinical behaviors of the survey participants in approaching patients with skin tumors, including the implementation of dermoscopy in their clinical work. The survey consisted of 29 questions (Fig. 1) that had previously been developed and ratified by the executive board members of the
Participants General Data
Of the 5361 IDS members invited to join the survey, 1214 registered in 4 months and 1123 were considered eligible because they responded to more than 70% of the 29 questions. The mean age of eligible respondents was 46 years (SD, 11 years) and 563 (50.1%) were women. Participants were from 89 countries, with Australia, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Romania, and Brazil being the most highly represented and accounting for 577 (51.4%) responses. Most of the participants were
Discussion
Skin cancer is a significant worldwide health problem because of its high incidence in white populations, combined with its potential morbidity and mortality. Recently, with increasing emphasis on skin cancer prevention, there has been a progressive inundation of specialist dermatology clinics with patients referred from primary care, requiring assessment of possible skin malignancy. Limited specialist resources have subsequently become overtaxed with many benign lesions in lower-risk patients.
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Financial Disclosure or Conflicts of Interest: None.
Study supported in part by the Italian Ministry of Health (RF-2010-2316524).