New technology revolutionising the health sector has been introduced for the first time at a Wagga practice to perform skin checks.
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Doctor Tim Caton of Caton Medical said the technology focused on creating a more accessible database of information around skin cancers.
"The system is basically an app called DermEngine which is a fairly new company but they have some very exciting ways of utilising imaging and technology to to help doctors with skin cancer diagnoses," he said.
"The other thing we can do is use a tool called visual search for a mole to compare it to another 20 moles in their database so you can help narrow down what it is you're looking at."
In addition to information, the technology also allows for faster diagnoses according to Dr Caton.
"We take a photo, attach what we call a dermoscope which gives us a magnified image, then the dermoscope photo is put in the patient's file and I can access those photos wherever I am in the world," he said.
"The other thing is I can share images and information straight to the Melanoma Institute with my surgical colleagues who might need to do some further work with the patient, and therefore they have instant access to all the finer details."
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While the program was adopted by the Melanoma Institute of Australia between 6-12 months ago, as well as by a few other practices around the country, Caton Medical is the first in Wagga to use the technology.
"We're first people in Wagga to have it on board, we started talking to the creators about two months ago and have been using the app for about a month now, and it's fantastic," Dr Caton said.
Amie St Clair Melanoma Trust committee member, Amanda Hubbard, said the new technology was another step forward for the city.
"It's a very important issue in this community and we've seen the number in skin checks rising since we started the trust which is a good thing," she said.
"It's what we're aiming for and hopefully this is another step forward in the right direction to making for accurate and fast diagnoses."
As spring quickly turns to summer and the mercury continues to rise, the new technology comes as a timely reminder to be sun safe and get regular skin checkups.