A Review on State-of-the-Art Computer-Based Approaches for the Early Recognition of Malignant Melanoma.

Cancer is a complex and intricate disease, and the scientific community has been struggling for decades to identify any feebleness or rudimentary characteristics to discover effective treatments. Melanoma continues to be a rare form of skin cancer but causes the majority of skin cancer-related deaths. The most common technique for the detection of melanoma is dermoscopy (or dermatoscopy or epiluminescence microscopy ELM), which performs the examination through an optical system (magnifying glass) with a light source (polarized light), allowing an in-depth visualization of features used for the diagnosis. Over the past decades, efforts have been made to create computer-based systems able to analyze such dermoscopy images, assisting the early detection of skin cancer, while also allowing repeatability of results. One major issue of image dermoscopy is the inability to detect early melanoma or cases that lack optical features. To deal with that issue researchers have focused lately on molecular techniques. The aim of this chapter is to present the state-of-the-art concerning the detection methods of malignant melanoma and describe the contributions made in this area of research.