TY - JOUR
T1 - Poor agreement between the automated risk assessment of a smartphone application for skin cancer detection and the rating by dermatologists
AU - Chung, Y.
AU - van der Sande, A. A. J.
AU - de Roos, K. P.
AU - Bekkenk, M. W.
AU - de Haas, E. R. M.
AU - Kelleners-Smeets, N. W. J.
AU - Kukutsch, N. A.
PY - 2020/2/1
Y1 - 2020/2/1
N2 - Background: Several smartphone applications (app) with an automated risk assessment claim to be able to detect skin cancer at an early stage. Various studies that have evaluated these apps showed mainly poor performance. However, all studies were done in patients and lesions were mainly selected by a specialist. Objectives: To investigate the performance of the automated risk assessment of an app by comparing its assessment to that of a dermatologist in lesions selected by the participants. Methods: Participants of a National Skin Cancer Day were enrolled in a multicentre study. Skin lesions indicated by the participants were analysed by the automated risk assessment of the app prior to blinded rating by the dermatologist. The ratings of the automated risk assessment were compared to the assessment and diagnosis of the dermatologist. Due to the setting of the Skin Cancer Day, lesions were not verified by histopathology. Results: We included 125 participants (199 lesions). The app was not able to analyse 90 cases (45%) of which nine BCC, four atypical naevi and one lentigo maligna. Thirty lesions (67%) with a high and 21 with a medium risk (70%) rating by the app were diagnosed as benign naevi or seborrhoeic keratoses. The interobserver agreement between the ratings of the automated risk assessment and the dermatologist was poor (weighted kappa = 0.02; 95% CI −0.08-0.12; P = 0.74). Conclusions: The rating of the automated risk assessment was poor. Further investigations about the diagnostic accuracy in real-life situations are needed to provide consumers with reliable information about this healthcare application.
AB - Background: Several smartphone applications (app) with an automated risk assessment claim to be able to detect skin cancer at an early stage. Various studies that have evaluated these apps showed mainly poor performance. However, all studies were done in patients and lesions were mainly selected by a specialist. Objectives: To investigate the performance of the automated risk assessment of an app by comparing its assessment to that of a dermatologist in lesions selected by the participants. Methods: Participants of a National Skin Cancer Day were enrolled in a multicentre study. Skin lesions indicated by the participants were analysed by the automated risk assessment of the app prior to blinded rating by the dermatologist. The ratings of the automated risk assessment were compared to the assessment and diagnosis of the dermatologist. Due to the setting of the Skin Cancer Day, lesions were not verified by histopathology. Results: We included 125 participants (199 lesions). The app was not able to analyse 90 cases (45%) of which nine BCC, four atypical naevi and one lentigo maligna. Thirty lesions (67%) with a high and 21 with a medium risk (70%) rating by the app were diagnosed as benign naevi or seborrhoeic keratoses. The interobserver agreement between the ratings of the automated risk assessment and the dermatologist was poor (weighted kappa = 0.02; 95% CI −0.08-0.12; P = 0.74). Conclusions: The rating of the automated risk assessment was poor. Further investigations about the diagnostic accuracy in real-life situations are needed to provide consumers with reliable information about this healthcare application.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85073805517&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31423673
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85073805517&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.15873
DO - https://doi.org/10.1111/jdv.15873
M3 - Article
C2 - 31423673
SN - 0926-9959
VL - 34
SP - 274
EP - 278
JO - Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology
JF - Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology
IS - 2
ER -