AI Tool Helps Doctors Spot Skin Cancer

Key TakeawaysA new AI tool can help doctors diagnose skin cancerThe tool grades skin lesions based on their appearanceAI correctly identified nearly 94% of skin cancers .TUESDAY, Oct. 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Is that brown spot a sign of aging, or is it skin cancer?A new AI tool promises to help doctors suss out skin cancers, researchers reported Oct. 22 in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.The tool, called Dermoscopy Explainable Intelligence (DEXI), is part of an imaging system that dermatologists can use to track skin lesions over time, researchers said.DEXI correctly identified almost 94% of skin cancers and accurately ruled out about 75% of non-cancerous lesions, researchers said."Our study demonstrated that DEXI is a useful and valuable tool to support clinicians as they evaluate cancerous and noncancerous skin lesions, but it should not be used in isolation,” said study senior researcher Dr. Jenny Link, a dermatologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.“The score must be interpreted alongside clinical findings and patient-specific factors, and the tool requires further validation and refinement," Link cautioned in a Mayo news release.DEXI has been trained on more than 66,000 skin images, the research team said.Based on how each skin lesion appears, the tool assigns it a score from zero to 10 as to whether it’s likely cancerous, researchers explained. DEXI also identifies features such as lesion asymmetry, border and color that contributed to the score it provided.To test the system, researchers had it evaluate 261 lesions found on 178 patients who underwent total-body photography. They then compared the AI tool's judgment against assessments by dermatologists.The average DEXI score was 2.5 for noncancerous lesions, 7.8 for skin cancers and 6.0 for melanomas, researchers said.Based on these findings, researchers “identified 3.0 as a potential DEXI score threshold [for potential malignancy] that could provide useful information when dermatologists are considering whether to monitor a lesion or perform a biopsy," Link said.However, the team also found that DEXI does not account for patient-specific factors such as age, history of melanoma or the medications they’re taking."Prior to the study, I would review a patient's DEXI score, but I wouldn't know exactly what to do with the number," Link said. "Now I can confidently use the score as another piece of data to inform my clinical judgment on whether I recommend a biopsy or monitoring."More informationThe Skin Cancer Foundation has more on early detection of skin cancer.SOURCE: Mayo Clinic, news release, Oct. 22, 2026 .What This Means For YouAI may now help your doctor diagnose or rule out skin cancer..Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

AI Tool Helps Doctors Spot Skin Cancer

Related Stories

AACR: Rural Populations Have Higher Breast Cancer Mortality

Intervention for Children of Skin Cancer Survivors Can Improve Sun-Protective Behaviors

GLP-1s Show Benefit For Kids With Type 2 Diabetes

Blood Test Could Spot Deadly Pancreatic Cancer Sooner