Public Relations - Press Releases: First Atlas Detailing In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy Published

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, USA – February 20, 2008 – As skin cancer cases continue to rise, the worldwide deployment of In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy (RCM) (Confocal Imaging) technology – which produces digital images of a patient’s skin with cellular detail similar to that obtained from histology of surgical biopsies – can help healthcare practitioners both speed and improve their clinical judgments and assist in monitoring treatment. In support of RCM technology, the world’s first available comprehensive atlas detailing the technology has been published.

"Reflectance Confocal Microscopy of Cutaneous Tumors: An Atlas with Clinical, Dermoscopic and Histological Correlations" (Salvador González, Melissa Gill, and Allan C. Halpern, Editors; Informa Healthcare, Publisher), is a comprehensive, full-color atlas detailing the potential of RCM technology and its possible applications for clinical practitioners. The hard-cover first edition atlas totals 280-pages.

Specifically, In Vivo Reflectance Confocal Microscopy allows optical sectioning of an area of skin without physical sectioning, assisting dermatologists to examine detailed features of a skin lesion without taking a biopsy specimen. RCM technology can also assist dermatopathologists to determine the best location for a section and dermatological surgeons to determine the margins of a lesion to be excised.

The contents of "Reflectance Confocal Microscopy of Cutaneous Tumors" are:
I. BASIC PRINCIPLES
II. NORMAL SKIN
III. KERATINOCYTIC TUMORS (Seborrheic keratoses, Clear cell acanthoma, Porokeratosis, Squamous neoplasia, Basal cell carcinoma)
IV. MELANOCYTIC TUMORS (Lentigo, Congenital and common acquired melanocytic nevi, Dysplastic nevi, Malignant melanoma, Blue nevus, Spitz nevus)
V. OTHER TUMORS (Trichoepithelioma, Sebaceous hyperplasia, Dermatofibroma, Angioma, Mycosis fungoides)
VI. CLINICAL APPLICATIONS (Adjunct to clinical diagnosis, RCM-guided biopsy site selection, RCM-assisted assessment of treatment response, RCM-assisted in-vivo margin mapping, RCM-Assisted ex-vivo margin assessment)
VII. FUTURE PERSPECTIVES

The editors of the atlas are three of the world’s leading RCM medical researchers: Salvador González, M.D., Ph.D., Faculty, Dermatology, MSKCC, New York, NY, Assistant Prof, Dermatology, HMS, Boston, Mass., USA; Melissa Gill, M.D., Dermatopathologist, Quest Diagnostics Inc., Teterboro, New Jersey, USA (formerly with MSKCC, New York, NY); and Allan C. Halpern, Chief, Dermatology Service, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY USA.

"Reflectance Confocal Microscopy of Cutaneous Tumors" (ISBN: 9780415451048) is available immediately from Informa Healthcare (http://catalogue.informahealthcare.com/) at http://catalogue.informahealthcare.com/pjbp/products/10001043243;jsessionid=2F12CE3F716298BA32B2362B147D00B6.

Lucid Inc. an RCM Leader
The leader in the development and worldwide deployment of RCM technology is Lucid, Inc. (http://www.lucid-tech.com/) of Rochester, New York, USA. Lucid is the creator of the VivaScope® reflective confocal microscopy imaging microscope and of the VivaNet®, a network-based, DICOM-compliant medical information system that enables the transfer of VivaScope® digital images between practitioners and pathologists for rapid review of confocal images.

Atlas author Dr. González is among several European diagnostic readers providing confocal imaging services for European dermatology patients using Lucid’s VivaScope® Confocal Imagers. The readers are also beginning validation testing of Lucid’s VivaNet® telemedicine information system of transferring and managing clinical data between the private practitioners and the diagnostic readers.

For information on Lucid’s VivaScope® or VivaNet® technology, contact Lucid on the web at http://www.lucid-tech.com/, by email at info@lucid-tech.com, or by phone at +1-585-239-9800.

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