It will take some time, but in the course of 2026 the Catharina Hospital and Maastricht UMC+ will be the first two hospitals in the Netherlands to start using a new scanner that can determine from a suspicious spot on the skin within half a minute whether or not it is skin cancer.
The new scanner can diagnose the most common form of skin cancer, called basal cell carcinoma, within a very short time. Currently, this requires taking a biopsy, which is then examined in a laboratory. “For this, patients are given an anesthetic and then three millimeters of skin is removed. An average of two weeks later there is a result. All that time a patient is in limbo, which is really annoying for them. With this device we are not only faster, but we also save laboratory costs,” says dermatologist Tjinta Brinkhuizen of the Catharina Hospital.
New scanner
The new scanner was tested in a study involving 500 patients from the Eindhoven and Maastricht hospitals with basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer. “This scanner is fast and thus saves time for patients, but most importantly; it is painless ánd you often have the results immediately,” Brinkhuizen said. She has been involved in using the device for years.
The big advantage of a quick diagnosis by the new scanner is of course that treatment can be started immediately afterwards. That could be prescribing an ointment, if it is a superficially growing basal cell carcinoma, or planning a surgical procedure. “If the tumor needs to be surgically removed, we would prefer to do it as soon as possible. We are still making a plan so we can do that surgery quickly,” the dermatologist said.
Maastricht UMC+
In the coming months, the dermatology department at Maastricht UMC+ will be the first to start using the scanner, which was recently named Care Innovator of the Year by VGZ. In particular, they will work on the logistical adjustments needed before the new scanner can actually be used in practice. These include training for dermatologists and different schedules. But perhaps also the need to cluster appointments differently in order to deploy the scanner as functionally as possible.
If all goes according to plan, the new scanner should be operational at Catharina Hospital in about a year and a half. “Then we will be able to scan many more people in a short period of time. That should help against the growing waiting lists, Brinkhuizen says.
The need for new, faster methods and technology for diagnosing skin cancer will grow substantially in the coming years, dermatologists expect. “We certainly haven't had the skin cancer peak yet. Now 1 in 5 people get it, and that number is only going to grow for now. Only in a couple of generations will that probably decrease because then you'll see the effect of the campaigns to apply good sunscreen.”
