The ISDIS Mission
The International Society for Digital Imaging of the Skin (ISDIS) was founded in 1992 by a group of U.S. dermatologists, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry scientists, radiologists, and plastic surgeons.
The goal of the society is to familiarize members with new and evolving digital skin imaging technologies such as dermoscopy, telemedicine, magnetic resonance imaging, spectroscopy, optical coherence tomography, total body imaging, etc. that are relevant to clinical practice and take steps to advance non-invasive imaging of the skin.
ISDIS has been working in close collaboration with International Dermoscopy Society (IDS) and International Confocal Group (ICG) in this regard.
The International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC)
The International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC) is an academia and industry partnership designed to use digital skin imaging to help reduce skin cancer mortality.
About ISIC
The primary clinical goal of ISIC is to support efforts to reduce melanoma-related deaths and unnecessary biopsies by improving the accuracy and efficiency of melanoma early detection.
To this end, ISIC is developing proposed digital imaging standards and engages the dermatology and computer science communities to improve diagnostic accuracy with the aid of AI.
While the initial focus of ISIC is on melanoma, the goals being pursued by ISIC are critical to advancing the broader landscape of skin imaging and artificial intelligence in dermatology; including non-melanoma skin cancer and inflammatory dermatoses.
Quality
While there may be subtle differences in the quality needed for different applications, images failing to meet minimal quality (e.g., spatial resolution, color accuracy, clarity of focus) will undermine their clinical utility.
Privacy
As in all other medical applications, standards are needed to ensure the privacy of the personal health information associated with dermatology images. The nudity associated with overview dermatology images adds an additional privacy concern.
Interoperability
To optimize the usefulness of dermatologic images, standards are needed to ensure that images and their associated metadata can be effectively shared between systems, patients, and providers.
ISIC Goals
In both the medical and public realms, the optimal use of images for education, diagnosis, tele-diagnosis, patient triage, mole monitoring, documentation, and coordination of care will all benefit from the development of standards to help to ensure Quality, Privacy, and Interoperability.