American researchers will be using an image database of more than 1 million skin lesions from New Zealand and Australian patients to find new ways of detecting melanoma.
New Zealand company MoleMap, which has created software for monitoring potentially cancerous changes through digital imagery, has just signed a deal with New York University.
In the past seven years, MoleMap clinics in New Zealand and Australia have carried out more than 120,000 examinations, assessing over 1 million lesions and identifying nearly 1000 cases of melanoma.
Chief executive Adrian Bowling says New York University's decision to adopt the technology shows its value as a diagnostic tool.
Researchers will also be using the database to find new ways of identifying melanoma at an earlier stage.
