Association of Dermatooncology, Dermatoscopy and Skin Optical Diagnostic (ADD a SOD)

Mission

Association “Dermoscopy, dermatooncology, and optical diagnostics of the skin “ was created in January 2013.

The main goal of the Association is to optimize the management of skin cancer in Georgia, in particular: prevention of skin cancer, the implementation and popularization of dermatoscopy and optical diagnosis.

The incidence of skin cancer has increased significantly worldwide. In accordance with the statistics skin cancer ranks third place among cancer pathology. Unfortunately, Georgia is no exception. According to the data of National center of Oncology for 2005-2010 the incidence of malignant skin tumors year-on-year increases. It should also be noted that these data do not provide a full picture of the scale of the country, because in the regions the situation seems to be even more serious. Unfortunately, primary diagnosis of skin cancer happens mostly in the later stages, which negatively affects the quality of life and mortality. The main purpose of creation and activity of the Association was the introduction of early diagnosis of skin cancer – implementation of skin cancer screening, which is extremely important not only for prevention but also for timely and effective treatment, which in turn will significantly reduce the mortality rate. One of the main factors in the development of skin cancer is prolonged exposure to UV rays, both natural (the sun) and artificial (Solarium), the international Agency for cancer research confirms that prolonged UV radiation is strongly carcinogenic( class 1). Most epidemiological studies support the fact that long-term, periodic, irregular or intense exposure to ultraviolet rays is a major risk factor in the occurrence of melanoma and prolonged exposure – of other malignant skin tumors such as basal cell and squamous cell carcinomas. The role of enhanced ultraviolet radiation can not be doubted and this is especially important for the Georgian population, taking into consideration the climatic characteristics ( the number of sunny days in a year). Since this problem is extremely actual for Georgia, the efficiency of its solution depends on early diagnosis, which is facilitated by dermatoscopy and development of a screening program of population, this became the main task of the association. It is natural that in parallel it is necessary to create an electronic database ( electronic health record) and prepare an electronic registry that is fully up-to-day requirements and strategy of the Ministry of health Georgia. Screening is a method of detecting of diseases in the initial, even asymptomatic period. As a rule, during screening for cutaneous cancers, they are often detected at an early stage of development, which results in a high percentage of positive treatment outcomes. The goal of the screening is to identify neoplasms at an early stage, prevent the development of late forms and reduce mortality.

The main priorities of the association’s activity:

  1. Creation of the "School of Skin Cancer", which is the guarantor of management of skin cancer in dermatooncology
  2. Development and implementation of a program for screening of skin cancer using digital dermatoscopy
  3. Development and implementation of national-wide recommendations for skin cancer screening. Creation of electronic medical records and electronic register
  4. To familiarize medical institutions of Tbilisi and regions of Georgia with the screening program
  5. To offer dermatologists to familiarize themselves with the necessary equipment and pass a course of training in dermatoscopy
  6. To assess the effectiveness of the screening program and basing on the obtained results, to hold international conferences and seminars, publish the received data
  7. To share experiences, both in the country and with foreign colleagues, to ensure that findings are included in an international database, to participate in international conferences
  8. To develop an automatic assessment of dermatoscopic indicators and software
3TH CONFERENCE OF ONCODERMATOLOGY IN GEORGIA, TBILISI