Skin Cancer Pathobiology at a Glance - A Focus on Imaging Techniques and Their Potential for Improved Diagnosis and Surveillance in Clinical Cohorts

Sep 24, 2026

Early diagnosis is essential for completely eradicating skin cancer and maximizing patients’ clinical benefits. This review highlights emerging optical imaging modalities—reflectance confocal microscopy, optical coherence tomography, MRI, NIR bioimaging, PET, and combinations—that generate non-invasive data supporting early detection of cutaneous tumors and surgical planning. The discussion emphasizes observing dynamic biological processes and explains how imaging can complement molecular and histological approaches for more personalized clinical strategies in skin cancer cohorts.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages58

Reading Time2 h 26 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Imaging modalities and their clinical potential

Reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM)

Optical coherence tomography (OCT)

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Near-infrared (NIR) bioimaging

Positron emission tomography (PET)

Challenges and implementation in clinical settings

Complementarity with molecular and histological approaches

Review Skin Cancer Pathobiology at a Glance: A Focus on Imaging Techniques and Their Potential for Improved Diagnosis and Surveillance in Clinical Cohorts Elena-Georgiana Dobre 1, Mihaela Surcel 2, Carolina Constantin 2,3, Mihaela Adriana Ilie 4, Ana Caruntu 5,6, Constantin Caruntu 7,8, * and Monica Neagu 1,2,3 Citation: Dobre, E.-G.; Surcel, M.; Constantin, C.; Ilie, M.A.; Caruntu, A.; Caruntu, C.; Neagu, M. Skin Cancer Pathobiology at a Glance: A Focus on Imaging Techniques and Their Potential for Improved Diagnosis and Surveillance in Clinical Cohorts. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24, 1079. [https://doi.org/10.3390/](https://doi.org/10.3390/)[ ](https://doi.org/10.3390/)ijms24021079 Academic Editor: Maurizio Battino Received: 12 November 2022 Revised: 2 January 2023 Accepted: 3 January 2023 Published: 5 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Faculty of Biology, University of Bucharest, Splaiul Independentei 91-95, 050095 Bucharest, Romania 2 Immunology Department,“Victor Babes” National Institute of Pathology, 050096 Bucharest, Romania 3 Department of Pathology, Colentina University Hospital, 020125 Bucharest, Romania 4 Department of Dermatology, Kalmar County Hospital, 391 85 Kalmar, Sweden 5 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery,“Carol Davila” Central Military Emergency Hospital, 010825 Bucharest, Romania 6 Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Dental Medicine,“Titu Maiorescu” University, 031593 Bucharest, Romania 7 Department of Physiology,“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania 8 Department of Dermatology,“Prof. N.C. Paulescu” National Institute of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases, 011233 Bucharest, Romania * Correspondence: [costin.caruntu@gmail.com](costin.caruntu@gmail.com) Abstract: Early diagnosis is essential for completely eradicating skin cancer and maximizing patients'clinical beneﬁts. Emerging optical imaging modalities such as reﬂectance confocal microscopy (RCM), optical coherence tomography (OCT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), near-infrared (NIR) bioimaging, positron emission tomography (PET), and their combinations provide non-invasive imaging data that may help in the early detection of cutaneous tumors and surgical planning. Hence, they seem appropriate for observing dynamic processes such as blood ﬂow, immune cell activation, and tumor energy metabolism, which may be relevant for disease evolution. This review discusses the latest technological and methodological advances in imaging techniques that may be applied for skin cancer detection and monitoring. In the ﬁrst instance, we will describe the principle and prospective clinical applications of the most commonly used imaging techniques, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of their implementation in the clinical setting. We will also highlight how imaging techniques may complement the molecular and histological approaches in sharpening the non-invasive skin characterization, laying the ground for more personalized approaches in skin cancer patients. Keywords: squamous cell carcinoma; cutaneous melanoma; reﬂectance confocal microscopy; optical coherence tomography; magnetic resonance imaging; positron emission tomography 1. Introduction The skin is the immune organ subjected to the most physical, chemical, and biological agents; therefore, it is the common site of cancer diagnosis [1] . By far, cumulative exposure to solar UV radiation (UVA and UVB) remains the most prominent risk factor for skin cancer since it leads to genomic instability, inﬂammation, and the emergence of cutaneous tumorsin human

FAQs

Why is early diagnosis critical in skin cancer?

Early diagnosis is essential to maximize clinical benefits and to enable effective eradication of skin cancer rather than treating late-stage disease.

Which non-invasive imaging modalities are emphasized for skin cancer detection and monitoring?

The review highlights optical imaging modalities including RCM, OCT, and also MRI, NIR bioimaging, and PET, including combinations of these methods.

How can imaging techniques complement molecular and histological approaches?

Imaging techniques can improve non-invasive skin characterization and help integrate with molecular and histological methods to support more personalized approaches for skin cancer patients.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by LangkahRina