Differentiation of Different Nonmelanoma Skin Cancer Types Using OCT.

BACKGROUND: Early detection of various types of nonmelanoma skin cancer has been a challenge in dermatology. Noninvasive examination procedures such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) play an increasingly important role, besides the established gold standard of histological tissue sample analysis. OCT is a noninvasive, cross-sectional, real-time technique that allows conclusions to be drawn with regard to the presence of pathologies. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish between different types of nonmelanoma skin cancer using OCT or not. METHODS: A study population of a total of 25 cases, comprising 5 cases, each, of 5 tumor entities (i.e., basal cell carcinoma, superficial basal cell carcinoma, actinic keratosis, squamous cell carcinoma, and Bowen disease) was examined. Relevant lesions were scanned both centrally and peripherally in the multislice mode. All OCT images were blinded, randomized, analyzed, and evaluated by 2 clinicians experienced in OCT. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that it is possible to determine correlations between various types of tumors and recurring tumor characteristics. CONCLUSION: This study showed that it is possible to distinguish between the different nonmelanoma skin cancers by using OCT, but further prospective studies have to be conducted to validate the sensitivity and specificity of the criteria.