College of Engineering
31 Electrical Impedance Dermography as a Biomarker for Non-Melanoma Skin Cancer
Elaine Wen Ying Wong; Benjamin Sanchez (Electrical and Computer Engineering); and Douglas Grossman (Huntsman Cancer Institute)
Faculty Mentor: Benjamin Sanchez (Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Utah)
Abstract: Diagnosis of basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma subtypes is difficult due to being unable to know how deep the cancerous tissue goes. Therefore, different subtypes ideally require different types of biopsies, but due to being unable to visually see how deep the cancerous tissue goes, even expert dermatologists struggle to make this decision. Therefore, we hypothesize that using electrical impedance dermography can serve as a biomarker to distinguish these subtypes. After gathering data from real patients, we were able to find the area under curves of over 80% in all comparisons. that electrical impedance dermography will be able to serve as a biomarker for non-melanoma skin cancers.
Introduction: Clinical diagnosis of basal cell (BCC) and squamous cell (SCC) carcinoma subtypes is challenging. Multiple subtypes of BCC and SCC can be difficult to distinguish clinically and ideally require different biopsy techniques for optimal histologic analysis and therapeutic decision-making [1]. Visual detection of BCC and SCC can be facilitated with the aid of dermoscopy [2] but determining prior to biopsy whether a lesion is superficial or more deeply invasive is usually not possible. There is a great clinical need to develop new technologies to augment visual skin examination to guide biopsy-decision-making and improve the management of lesions suspicious for BCC and SCC. To date, there is no bedside technique available that is low-cost, easily applied, quantitative, objective, and capable of overcoming these diagnostic hurdles. EID is a newer non-invasive, quantitative, and objective tool sensitive enough to detect alterations in the electrical properties of skin cancers. The overarching hypothesis of my proposal is that EID can be used to distinguish BCC subtypes and between SCC-in situ, invasive SCC, and inflamed keratosis that cannot be appreciated clinically. Clinical Diagnosis of BCC and SCC subtypes is challenging.
The “superficial” form of BCC is confined to the epidermis and can be effectively treated by non-surgical means. The “nodular” form of BCC consists of a collection of round tumor cells occupying the upper part of the dermis and can be treated by destruction or surgically depending on its size and location. “Micronodular” and “infiltrative” forms of BCC consist of smaller aggregates of tumor cells or angulated or stranded tumor cells, respectively, infiltrating the deeper dermis and usually requiring surgical treatment. Importantly, these invasive subtypes of BCC can present as papules or plaques that cannot reliably be distinguished clinically from nodular or the more superficial subtype of BCC. While the “shav