Patient-initiated follow-up for high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: how we do it and 2 years of outcome data.

BACKGROUND: For patients with high-risk cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas (cSCCs), current guidance suggests we should offer post-treatment follow-up appointments at regular intervals for 24 months. Is this to improve prognosis, provide psychological support or find the next cancer? Recent data confirm that recurrence and metastasis are rarer events, and that perhaps these intense follow-up schedules do not really lead to improved health outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To question whether current follow-up practices are truly needed by introducing an option of patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU). METHODS: We enrolled 476 patients with cSCC (January 2020-January 2023) who fulfilled the definition of high-risk cSCC based on guidelines in use at the time. Of the total, 59 did not fulful the inclusion criteria and were excluded; 250 (52.5%) did not recontact us during the 2-year period, with no clinical record of complications or recurrences; and 167 (35.1%) utilized the PIFU pathway, of which 119 patients required only one face-to-face appointment. Seven patients (1.5%) developed metastatic disease, 11 (2.3%) developed recurrence and 68 (14.3%) developed cSCC at another site. All lesions were identified by the patient via PIFU. We saved 1250 follow-up appointments from those who did not contact us (n = 250), financially equating to £181 462.50. CONCLUSIONS: Our data imply that PIFU can be considered safe alternative practice for patients with cSCC. Patients independently identified the need for review without scheduled follow-up, making these appointments available to other patient cohorts. Although follow-up appointments may provide mental health support, they can be inconvenient and not the ideal use of our healthcare resources. Our findings support a call for revision of existing skin cancer health policies to cope with and subsequently improve our practices for better patient care.

Patient-led teledermatology for skin lesion triage: a service evaluation of the DyplensTM dermoscope.

Despite the huge improvement in smartphone cameras, there has not been any real interest in the UK in pursuing patient-facing teledermatology within the sphere of skin lesion triage. High-specification dermoscopic images can be generated with smartphone attachments, but, to date, no formal clinical trial has been performed to establish the efficacy and feasibility of these consumer-level dermoscopes in skin lesion triage. The objectives of this study were to assess the ability of patients to capture dermoscopic images using a smartphone attachment, and to identify the safety and diagnostic accuracy of consumer-level dermoscopy in triaging out benign skin lesions from the 2-week-wait (2WW) cancer pathway. We recruited 78 patients already attending a face-to-face clinic at two locations. They were provided with instruction leaflets and asked to obtain dermoscopic and macroscopic images of their lesion(s) using their own smartphones. The images (and a brief history) were distributed to five experienced blinded assessors (consultants), who were asked to state their working diagnosis and outcome (reassurance, routine review or 2WW pathway), as they would in teledermatology. We compared their outcomes to the gold-standard in-person diagnosis and/or histological diagnosis, where available. The device achieved 100% sensitivity in diagnosing melanoma and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The specificity for the diagnoses of melanoma (89%) and SCC (83%) was high. The overall diagnostic accuracy was 77% for both benign and malignant lesions, The diagnostic accuracy was high for seborrhoeic keratosis (91%) and simple naevi (81%). Patient-captured dermoscopic images using bespoke smartphone attachments could be the future in safely triaging out benign lesions.