Primary early diagnosis of skin melanoma after individual training of doctors

Background. Skin melanoma is a superficial malignant tumor. In 90% of cases, it is a pigment neoplasm and is usually visible during visual examination of the skin. The diagnosis should be made early since, with a late diagnosis, its prognosis is unfavorable. One of the reasons for the late diagnosis is the lack of knowledge of the primary contact doctors of the symptoms and signs of skin melanoma in the early stages. Objective. To assess changes in the level of knowledge on early diagnosis of skin melanoma in the training of doctors of different specialties using the author’s curriculum. Material and methods. From 2016 to 2018, 26 primary contact doctors were trained at the «Reaviz» Medical University. The training was based on the author’s database with early-stage, morphologically verified cases of skin melanoma (Patent No. 2018620399, «Database of patients with skin melanoma»), as well as the author’s curriculum (Certificate No. 2018613017, «Method for training doctors and nurses in the early diagnosis of skin melanoma»). Results. Among the groups of specialists, the best rates of early non-invasive diagnosis of skin melanoma were reported by dermatovenerol-ogists and regional oncologists. The least knowledge was shown by obstetrician-gynecologists. The training course for primary contact doctors based on the author’s methodology significantly increased their knowledge on early diagnosis of skin melanoma: the sensitivity of diagnosis increased by 25.17%, specificity by 19.34%, and accuracy by 22.26%. Trained doctors referred their patients with suspected skin melanoma at the pre-invasive stage to a specialized oncological dispensary more often. Conclusion. Training of primary contact physicians in the principles of early diagnosis of skin melanoma improves non-invasive diagnosis of this tumor at an early stage, contributing to the improvement of the overall oncological epidemiological situation. © 2023, Media Sphera Publishing Group. All rights reserved.