PhD Scientific Days 2025

Poster Session I. - D: Pathological and Oncological Sciences

Optically Guided High-Frequency Ultrasound and Multispectral Imaging for Preoperative Assessment of Breslow Thickness in Melanoma

Name of the presenter

Boostani Mehdi

Institute/workplace of the presenter

Semmelweis University, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology

Authors

Mehdi Boostani¹, Szabolcs Bozsányi¹, Norbert Kiss¹, Gyorgy Paragh²

1: Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology, Semmelweis University
2: Department of Dermatology, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY

Text of the abstract

Introduction & Objectives: Characterized by its metastatic potential and increasing incidence rates, melanoma represents a significant global health concern. Initial diagnosis often lacks essential data on Breslow thickness, crucial for tumor staging and surgical planning. Despite this, comparative data on novel imaging techniques for Breslow thickness assessment remain sparse. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of optically guided high-frequency ultrasound (OG-HFUS) and multispectral imaging (MSI) in preoperatively estimating Breslow thickness and staging in patients with cutaneous malignancies.Materials & Methods: A cohort of 101 patients with histologically confirmed primary melanoma was enrolled and categorized based on tumor thickness. Optically guided 33 MHz HFUS and MSI were employed for the assessment. An MSI-based algorithm was developed to categorize melanomas into three subgroups, with sensitivity, specificity, and agreement measured. Similarly, OG-HFUS performance was evaluated in comparison, focusing on sensitivity, specificity, and agreement metrics.Results: The MSI-based algorithm exhibited a sensitivity of 62.6%, specificity of 81.3%, and fair agreement (κ = 0.440, CI: 0.298–0.583). In contrast, OG-HFUS demonstrated superior performance with a sensitivity of 91.8%, specificity of 96.0%, and almost perfect agreement (κ = 0.858, CI: 0.763–0.952).Conclusion: Our research indicates that OG-HFUS performs better than MSI in estimating Breslow thickness for malignant melanoma.
Funding: This work was supported by the SE 250+ Excellence PhD Scholarship, 2024-2.1.2-EKÖP-KDP-2024-00002 and EKÖP-2024-174 New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Culture and Innovation from the source of the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, and the Roswell Park Alliance Foundation.