NCT05015816Active, not recruiting
MoleGazer Development Feasibility Study
MoleGazer: A Feasibility Study for Early Detection of Melanoma
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 8 Jul 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Melanoma (skin cancer) frequently develops from existing moles on the skin. Current practice relies on expert dermatologists being able to successfully identify new/changing moles in individuals with multiple moles. Total body photography (TBP-high-quality images of the entire skin) can track and monitor moles over time to detect melanoma. However, TBP is currently used as a visual guide when diagnosing melanoma, requiring visual inspection of each mole sequentially. This process is challenging, time-consuming and inefficient. Artificial intelligence (AI) is ideally suited to automate this process. Comparing baseline TBP images to newly acquired photographs, AI techniques can be used to accurately identify and highlight changing moles, and potentially distinguish harmless moles from cancerous changes. Astrophysicists face a similar problem when they map the night sky to detect new events, such as exploding stars. Using AI, based on two or more images, astrophysicists detect new events and accurately predict how they will appear subsequently. This project, called MoleGazer, is a collaboration with astrophysicists aiming to apply AI methods that are currently used for astronomical sky surveys, to TBP images. The MoleGazer algorithm, developed at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, will automatically identify the appearance of new moles and characterise changes in existing ones, when new TBP images are taken. To optimise this MoleGazer algorithm TBP images will be taken at multiple time-points, as there are no existing datasets of TBP images that are publicly available. The investigators invite a) high-risk patients attending skin cancer screening clinics to attend sequential three-monthly TBP imaging and clinical assessment and b) any patient who undergoes TBP as standard care to share images so that the investigators can develop the MoleGazer algorithm. The ultimate goal is for the MoleGazer algorithm to 'map moles' over a patient's lifetime to detect changes, with the eventual aim to detect melanoma as early as possible.
- Status (registry)
- Active, not recruiting
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 374 (actual)
- First submitted
- 19 Dec 2020
- Start date
- 13 Sept 2021
- Primary completion date
- 28 Feb 2024
- Lead sponsor
- Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust
- Diseases
- Melanoma
- NCT number
- NCT05015816
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Participants enrolled: 374
- From 13 Sept 2021 to the primary completion date, 28 Feb 2024
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study design.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- Patient with active malignancy affecting any organ and receiving any cancer-specific treatment
Other
- The participant may not enter the study if ANY of the following apply:
- Patient unable to consent
- Poor mobility / unable to hold recommended positions for standard TBP imaging
- Individuals who do not understand English
- In addition for Group A:
- ● Unable to attend for three-monthly study visits
Who the study is looking for
- Participant is willing and able to give informed consent for participation in the study
- Male or Female, aged 18-80 years old
- In addition for Group A:
- Willing to attend for additional study visits and total body photography imaging
- High-risk melanoma patients including:
- Dysplastic / atypical naevus syndrome (\> 60 moles +/- personal history of melanoma)
- Family history of melanoma
- Past history of at least two primary melanoma or melanoma-in situ
- At least 3 first-degree or second-degree relatives with prior melanoma
- CDKN2A or CDK4 germline mutation
- Individuals with multiple naevi (\>25) who are immunosuppressed from any cause (e.g. organ transplant recipients, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, etc.)
- In addition for Group B:
- ● Has previously had total body photography imaging OR will have total body photography as part of standard care
Age in the registry: 18 years to 80 years · Sex: All · Accepts healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Save your city in your profile to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Churchill Hospital Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Headington | United Kingdom | Unknown status |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.