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The Current

Diagnosis through medical apps: Should you trust them?

Got a mole? Think it's looking a bit suspicious? Well ... there's a App for that, several specific apps actually ... all with varying functions that purport to detect possible skin cancer. Trouble is, a test of those apps has raised concerns about their accuracy and about just how vulnerable someone who need treatment may be....
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The Current24:00Diagnosis through medical apps: Should you trust them?
Got a mole? Think it's looking a bit suspicious? Well ... there's a App for that, several specific apps actually ... all with varying functions that purport to detect possible skin cancer. Trouble is, a test of those apps has raised concerns about their accuracy and about just how vulnerable someone who need treatment may be.


Diagnosis through medical apps: Should you trust them? - Dermatology Professor

If you have one of those mobile phone apps that tracks calorie intake and exercise, using technology to enhance your health may seem like a no-brainer. But there are several apps that make bolder claims to keeping you healthy.

According to our next guest, they come with a lot of risk. Dr. Laura Ferris is an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Pittsburgh. She was the senior author of a study that looked at four smartphone applications meant to detect skin cancer. We reached Dr. Laura Ferris by skype.

Dr. Laura Ferris' study on apps meant to detect skin cancer was published in the online Journal of the American Medical Association - Dermatology.

Diagnosis through medical apps: Should you trust them? - Mole Detective

Our next guest believes skin-cancer detection apps such as the one his company sells can save lives. Avi Lasarow is the Chair of Lasarow Health Care Technologies - It's app is called the Mole Detective, it was the first app to calculate symptoms of melanoma right on the phone. Avi Lasarow was in Cape Town, South Africa.

Diagnosis through medical apps: Should you trust them? - MobiHealthNews

With a look at how consumer health care apps are used and regulated, we were joined by Brian Dolan. He is the Editor & Co-Founder of MobiHealthNews, a website and service that curates news and research related to digital health. MobiHealthNews puts out a yearly look at health care apps. Brian Dolan was in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

And we did put a call in to Health Canada with some questions about how IT is dealing with the regulation of apps on this side of the border. We're awaiting a reply.

This segment was produced by The Current's Dawna Dingwall.


Other segments from today's show:

HarassMap: Mapping sexual assaults as they happen in Egypt

The rise of E-cigarettes: Helping to quit or encouraging to smoke?

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