According to a deal signed by one of America’s leading universities i.e. New York University (NYU), American researchers will be utilizing New Zealand company MoleMap’s technology for advancing skin cancer research and developing new ways for earlier melanoma detection.

The $500,000 a year deal will allow residents and researchers from Charles C. Harris Skin and Cancer Unit, a teaching hospital at NYU’s Langone Medical Centre to have access for examining an image database of over one million skin lesions and 1000 melanoma case studies of New Zealand and Australian patients.

One of the top dermatology departments worldwide, the unit has adopted the MoleMap software and database, branded MoleSafe in the USA, and the largest tele-dermatology system with 40 melanoma screening centres globally.

Combining digital dermoscopy, total body photography and sequential monitoring, the MoleMap programme gathers valuable information for analysis by a specialist dermatologist to identify melanomas overlooked during a conventional clinical examination.

Over the past seven years, the MoleMap network of clinics in Australia and New Zealand have utilized their advanced technology for monitoring cancerous changes through digital imagery, conducting over 120,000 examinations on 62,000 patients, imaging and diagnosing over one million lesions, including the identification of 1,000 melanomas.

Recently, the US Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Clinic also used the MoleMap database for its research into pigmented moles.

According to Adrian Bowling, CEO MoleMap, the fact that New York University has decided to adopt the technology and establish a MoleMap clinic within its hospital, shows its value as a diagnostic tool, with NYU’s dermatologists, medical residents and specialty researchers using the database for identifying early stage melanomas.

Dermatologists say it is important to diagnose melanoma at the earliest, as the lesion can become more invasive and the prognosis worse, if left undetected. One of the most prevalent cancer forms, it is often completely symptomless. In severe case, if left untreated, it can progress to other parts of the body, such as, the lymph nodes or brain.

Often difficult to spot, melanomas can appear in the mouth, nose, eyes, stomach, even under fingernails.