Project description
New detection method for melanoma
The incidence of skin cancer has been increasing during the last few decades. As many as 3 million people develop skin cancer every year. A malignant melanoma is the most dangerous skin tumour. Early diagnosis is associated with improved quality of life for such patients but current methodologies are unreliable and not performed as frequently as required. The EU-funded MERWIS project is focussed on increasing the examination frequency. This means it scans for evolution (change) of every single monitored mole, but with high or very high frequency. As most clinical signs of melanoma are visible, MERWIS uses a body-mapping cabin, a mobile application and a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software to detect all the visible changes of melanoma.
Objective
However, there are several tools and solutions for aiding the melanoma detection (variable dermatoscopes, full-body mapping tools and Applications), they were not able to achieve breakthrough in the early diagnosis phase. It comes from the wrong methodologies. There are two types of available tools: 1) diagnostic tools, whit the aim of diagnosing skin-cancer without human intervention, and 2) medical equipment, which help the work of dermatologist during the examination in a doctor’s office. The problem with first methodology (artificial based skin-cancer diagnosis) is that these do not work reliable or do not work at all. The main problem of the second methodology is the very rare examination frequency. An average health conscious European adult visits skin-cancer screening in every 3-7 years.
In contrast with these, MERWIS offers a solution that focuses on increasing the examination frequency, where the system does not need to establish a full diagnosis. MERWIS only looks for evolution (change) of every single monitored mole, but with high or very high frequency.
The validated and demonstrated MERWIS prototype is based on the fact that most clinical signs of melanoma are all visible. Through using the combination of a special body-mapping cabin, a mobile application based “self dermoscopy”, and a computer assisted qualitative data analysis software we can detect all the visible changes of melanoma ABCDE. Furthermore our system uses a custom made distributed ledger technology-based network cloud solution. Based on this framework it is possible to build the MERWIS decentralized database on a maximum security level and ensure scalability.
The aim of this Phase 1 project is to carry out an extended feasibility study consisting of market assessment, business model validation, risk and IP strategy assessment, up-date and advancement of the business plan, and international pilot location selection to support the global commercialisation of our technology.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabases
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologyskin cancermelanoma
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementbusiness models
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
1183 BUDAPEST
Hungary
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.