DEEP learning is taking on dermatology, with a neural network matching doctors in its ability to identify skin cancers.
Researchers at Stanford University in California trained the neural network on more than 129,000 images of skin anomalies associated with 2000 diseases, including melanoma. It was then pitted against 21 dermatologists on new images. For each, the doctors said whether or not they would biopsy the area. The neural network matched or exceeded the clinicians’ performance (Nature, doi.org/bxwn).
“I’m certain this is how melanomas are going to be identified in the future,” says Richard Weller at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, UK.
This article appeared in print under the headline “AI spots signs of skin cancer”