London, Feb 28 (IANS): Finnish researchers have developed a new camera that is able to detect early stages of skin cancer in matter of seconds.

A new innovative hand-held camera developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is able to detect early stages of skin cancer in just two seconds.

“The ultra-precision hyperspectral camera recognises early stages of skin cancer that are invisible to naked eye,” said Heikki Saari, principal scientist at VTT.

Researchers have run a pilot study using the hyperspectral camera, and the preliminary results of the study are promising.

The camera was used to detect the skin areas with field cancerisation - areas of multiple skin cancer precursors for early treatment of the affected areas.

The hyperspectral camera detected borders of poorly delineated skin tumours such as lentigo malignas in order to avoid the need for re-excisions.

It captures images in up to 70 narrow wavelengths, whereas a regular camera uses only three.

The pilot protect was done in collaboration the University of Jyvaskyla, the Paijat-Hame Central Hospital and the Skin and Allergy Hospital of Helsinki University Central Hospital.

Skin cancer rates have been growing exponentially due to population ageing and UV damage caused by excessive exposure to sunlight, said VTT in a press release.