NYU to adopt Kiwi Cancer Technology

One of America’s leading universities, New York University (NYU), will utilise Kiwi MoleMap technology to advance skin cancer research and help find new ways to detect melanoma earlier.
The Charles C. Harris Skin and Cancer Unit, a teaching hospital at NYU’s Langone Medical Center will now have access to 1000’s of Kiwi and Australian melanoma case studies for their residents and researchers to examine.
The unit, considered one of the top dermatology departments in the world, has adopted the MoleMap (branded ‘MoleSafe’ in the US) software and database - regarded as the largest tele-dermatology system with 40 melanoma screening centers globally.
The MoleMap programme combines digital dermoscopy, total body photography and sequential monitoring to gather valuable information that is then analysed by a specialist dermatologist to help identify melanomas which could potentially be overlooked during a conventional clinical examination.
Over the last 7 years the MoleMap network of clinics, utilising their advanced technology, has conducted more than 120,000 examinations on 62,000 patients, imaged and diagnosed in excess of 1 million lesions, identifying close to 1,000 melanomas.
The US Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Clinic, has also recently used the MoleMap database for its “The Ugly Duckling Sign” research into pigmented moles which made headlines worldwide – now NYU researchers will have access to the same database.
CEO of MoleMap Adrian Bowling says NYU’s decision to establish a MoleMap clinic within its hospital shows the value of the technology as a diagnostic tool.
Bowling says NYU’s dermatologists, medical residents, along with specialty researchers, will now be using the database to help identify melanomas at an earlier stage.
Dr Mark Gray a MoleMap Dermatologist says it’s important to diagnose melanoma at the earliest opportunity as the longer it is left the more invasive the lesion may become and the worse the prognosis will be.
“Melanoma continues to be one of the most prevalent forms of cancer and is often completely without symptoms. Left untreated, in severe cases, the cancer can progress to other areas of the body such as the lymph nodes or brain,” says Dr Gray.
Melanomas are often hard to spot and they can appear in the mouth, nose, eyes, stomach and even under fingernails, he says.

-Ends-

Written on behalf of the MoleMap by PR and Advertising agency Impact PR. For further information, images or to schedule an interview please contact Fleur Revell fleur@impactpr.co.nz (ph.021509600) or Mark Devlin mark@impactpr.co.nz (ph. 021509060).

Note to Editors:
Dr Mark Gray:
Dr Mark Gray is a specialist dermatologist. Dr Gray obtained his primary medical degree at the University of Otago in 1982 and in 1990 completed a postgraduate course in Anatomic Pathology and Dermatopathology at Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts, General Hospital and Cornell University/New York. He completed his training in Dermatology and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in Canada (Dermatology) in 1993.

About MoleMap by Dermatologists

MoleMap by Dermatologists is a melanoma surveillance and diagnosis service which combines modern technologies with an expert dermatologists diagnosis to screen for melanoma. A Melanographer (trained registered nurse) uses digital imaging equipment that records the entire skin surface (Total Body Photography), and the sub-surface (dermoscopic) features of all the nevi that meet pre-defined dermatologist determined criteria.

These are sent to MoleMap’s central electronic patient record database. Each image is viewed by a diagnosing dermatologist who reports anything significant to the patient and their GP. With regular (usually annual) review appointments images of a nevus can be compared over time providing a more certain way of detecting suspicious change in nevi as early as possible (serial dermoscopy).

With 2,500,000 lesion images in its database (the largest database of lesions in the world), MoleMap data is already being used for studies and educational programmes in the United States. World-leading cancer center, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Clinic (MSKCC) in the USA, is currently drawing on the database to further their ground-breaking studies in the diagnosis and treatment of skin cancer.

• MoleMap was established in New Zealand 1998 by a group of dermatologists who saw the potential to improve melanoma diagnosis and surveillance through digital imaging and expert diagnosis
• Significant changes were made to the Total Body Photography aspect of the service in July 2005, paving the way for the Australian launch of MoleMap by Dermatologists in that same month
• MoleMap by Dermatologists now operates at 18 sites along Australia’s Eastern Seaboard, from Warrnambool to Cairns.
• MoleMap by Dermatologists signature service, Full Body MoleMap, is the first example of a structured, community based melanoma screening/surveillance program in the world. While other services offer diagnosis of suspicious lesions, MoleMap by Dermatologists goes the extra step of recording the entire skin surface plus the subsurface features of many moles and tracking these over time. Studies show that this technique can identify melanoma that may not be picked up by other means, until they become more advanced.
• The average number of lesions recorded on each patient during a Full Body MoleMap is 33
• MoleMap Second Opinion is a diagnostic Tele-dermatology service that provides rapid access to a dermatologist’s opinion on up to 3 lesions, selected by the referring doctor.
• MoleMap has compiled the largest database of nevi and other skin lesions in the world – over 1,000,000 individual nevi images
• A recent audit of MoleMap by Dermatologists clinical practice showed the system was able to reduce unnecessary excisions of suspicious lesions whilst still finding early melanoma.
• In an audit of 79 GP referred spot checks, 70 were diagnosed as benign, with 9 lesions being identified as requiring excision. 5 of these were histologically confirmed as melanoma.