Astron Clinica takes innovation award

The 2006 Frost & Sullivan European Technology Innovation of the Year Award has been conferred on Astron Clinica of the United Kingdom in recognition of its skin imaging technology Spectrophotometric Intracutaneous Analysis (SIAscopy). This technology has pioneered the measurement and non-invasive visualisation of the major dermatological constituents blood, melanin and collagen of the skin.

Frost & Sullivan's Technology Innovation Award is bestowed upon a company or individual that has carried out new research, which has resulted in innovations that have or are expected to bring significant contributions to the industry in terms of adoption, change, and competitive posture.

“SIAscopy utilises both visible and infrared light to examine skin components such as blood, melanin, dermal melanin and collagen to a depth of 2 mm below the skin's surface, and provides gross living pathological data on skin lesions,” noted Frost & Sullivan research analyst Sangeetha Prabakar. “This eliminates the need for other more laborious clinical examination and laboratory analysis procedures.”

Using sophisticated mathematical models and software programmes, SIAscopy generates images called SIAscans, which can then either be displayed on PCs, viewed separately or overlaid, to demonstrate how skin features relate to one another. This allows physicians to know the exact size of a lesion and make more precise incisions.

While contact SIAscopy provides very high-resolution SIAscans for all types of cells and structures, giving the maximum amount of information about a specific area of skin or a lesion, non-contact SIAscopy allows a larger area, such as an entire back or face, to be imaged and provides details about the concentration of haemoglobin and melanin levels. It is particularly helpful in monitoring large numbers of moles on a person, observing moles that are changing and is also useful for imaging haemoglobin.