UPC group leads project to find best diagnostic system for skin cancer
The initiative is called Diagnoptics and includes members from Spain, Germany, France and Italy
The Center for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6) at the Terrassa Campus of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia · BarcelonaTech (UPC) is leading the European Diagnoptics project for better diagnosis of skin cancer. Hospital Clínic Barcelona is one of the hospitals participating in the project, alongside other research centers and companies from Spain, Germany, France and Italy.
The project was created to address the need to find a better diagnostic system for this disease, as figures show that 8 out of 9 cases are incorrectly diagnosed and operated unnecessarily. The final aim of Diagnoptics, which has a budget of €4.7 millions, is to create a platform combining four different types of photonic technology: three-dimensional representation of the body developed by the CD6, laser techniques from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse, the commercial confocal microscopy equipment of German company Mavig, and Diagnoptics’ own photonic technology for minimally invasive surgery. By joining these different elements, medical personnel will have access to a system to diagnose skin cancer more precisely, quickly and objectively.
Skin cancer is one of the most difficult diseases to diagnose. According to the Government of Catalonia’s Canal Salut, there are two types of skin cancer: melanoma and non-melanoma. The latter makes up 95% of all cases and has a low mortality rate. Melanoma skin cancer, however, is highly invasive and has a high mortality rate. Approximately 915 cases of melanoma are diagnosed each year in Catalonia, a figure that is increasing annually nearly 5% in men and 4% in women.
The Center for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6) is a research group at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia Center for Innovation and Technology (CIT-UPC) and belongs to the Government of Catalonia TECNIO network.
More information is available in the UPC press release.
Twitter account for the project (website under construction).