Sound of Melanoma: Ultrasound Can Help Doctors Find Cancer More Accurately

ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2010) — Knowing the stage of a patient's melanoma is important when choosing the best course of treatment. When the cancer has progressed to the lymph nodes, a more aggressive treatment is needed. Examining an entire lymph node for cancer takes much effort and time. Now, a new technique might help make the process more efficient.

University of Missouri researchers in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center are studying how photoacoustics, or a laser-induced ultrasound, could help scientists locate the general area of the lymph node where melanoma cells could be residing. This new technology could help doctors identify the stage of melanoma with more accuracy.

"This method can be used to determine if the cancer has spread from stage 2, where the melanoma is still just in the skin lesion, to stage 3, where the melanoma has spread to the lymph nodes," said John Viator, assistant professor in the Department of Biological Engineering and Department of Dermatology.

source: Science Daily release