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Full Body Scanner

 Screening for skin cancer
  (+4, -1)
(+4, -1) 		  [vote for,
against]

When a doctor examines a freckle or mole for signs of skin cancer, s/he often asks if it's grown or changed over time. This is always a question that catches one off guard, as it's not really something you'd notice.

I propose a normal paper scanner with a very large glass bed. One climbs on, gets scanned, then rolls a bit, etc. until their entire body has been scanned. The technician then saves a medium-resolution picture of all of the scans and a high-resolution picture of anything suspicious to a CD to compare with future scans.

Yes, I know full body PET scans exist, but they are ~$1,000 per scan, plus don't really provide data useful for this purpose. A full body scanner should be quite inexpensive to produce (using nearly off-the-shelf components), and only take a half hour or so of a skilled technician's time.

—Worldgineer, Jun 03 2004

Oddly enough, inspired by "Mole huters" http://www.halfbake...22Mole_20hunters_22
[Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

Full Body Scan http://www.vitalima...full-body-scan.html
Not this [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

Large format scanner http://www.datascri.../large-scanner1.jpg
This + a large piece of glass + some gears and pulleys = baked. [Worldgineer, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004]

dogs sniff out skin cancer with amazing accuracy http://abcnews.go.c...ews/dogs020611.html
tired: CAT scan wired: DOG scan [xclamp, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 21 2004]

[link]






       A less expensive version involves your work photocopier when you think you're alone.
—Worldgineer, Jun 03 2004
   

       What's wrong with just taking some photographs?
—jutta, Jun 03 2004
   

       Adding conditioner gives that scanner full body and a healthy shine.
—sartep, Jun 03 2004
   

       You could post the images on your homepage for the education and entertainment of all.   

       BTW, if a PET scan is too expensive, you can volunteer for the Visable Human Project. Entry is free.
—FloridaManatee, Jun 03 2004
   

       Jutta the problem is that if you are single who takes the photos or notices the mole?
—engineer1, Jun 04 2004
   

       Scan with UV light for a nice full body tan.
—FarmerJohn, Jun 04 2004
   

       [jutta] The problem is picture resolution and judging the size of a mole. Scanners can grab much higher resolution than even a fairly close-up picture, and the size of an object pressed on the glass bed is known to a fairly high precision. A full body picture wouldn't give you much information at all.   

       I guess you could take a picture of each seperate mole with some sort of scale right next to it, but: that's a lot of pictures and time, you could miss something that doesn't look very big at the time, and you would have no point of reference to know where this particular picture of a mole was on your body.
—Worldgineer, Jun 04 2004
   

       this idea has some merit as a baseline is always a good thing to have when making a diagnosis. (+)   

       related -- there was a cartoon panel sometime back that made fun of cheap HMO's with a doctor waving a cat over a patient...CAT scan (rim shot).   

       but as it turns out, dogs have been successfully trained to sniff out skin cancer in patients with near 100% accuracy. (link). they're training them to find prostate cancer too (have a leg up after all that crotch sniffing they do anyways) dog scan might be more practical.
—xclamp, Jun 04 2004
   

       Worldgineer: reportedly, people using their photocopiers in that fashion is the largest single cause of copier failure, after paper jams.
—DrCurry, Jun 04 2004
   

       [DC] And hopefully never the twain shall meet. "You fool! Never use the auto feeder."   

       [fodder] It's true you won't be able to get everywhere, but you should be able to cover most areas. Problem areas: insides of legs and inside and outside of arms for everyone, and the small of the back and mid front ribcage for generously proportioned clients.   

       Like you suggest, some moving and rescanning should fix most of these areas. A camera may be needed for the really difficult areas, such as underarms.
—Worldgineer, Jun 04 2004
   

       Next up: alt.binaries.erotica.amateur.scanners
—Guncrazy, Jun 04 2004
   

       Hmm. Not a scanner, a booth … annually, the patient undresses, stands in the booth and an array of digital cameras rapidly image the entire skin surface under standardised lighting conditions.   

       Quick, non-invasive, relatively cheap. Imaging can be compared year on year to detect growth of moles etc. which might be malignant.
—8th of 7, Oct 26 2014
   

       I like it 8th.
—Worldgineer, May 23 2015
   

       If different spectrum cameras were used in 8th's booth, other baselines and anomalies could be registered against the person. Thermal might be interesting. A cancer dog could work the vents.
—wjt, May 24 2015
   

       This has been a service offered by dermatologists since the 2000s, at least in Croatia.
—4and20, May 24 2015
   

       Tagline while reading this:   

       // Replace "light" with "sausages" and this may work… //   

       and while writing this:   

       // Eureka! Keeping naked people off the streets since 1999. //   

       (or 2004, in this case)
—notexactly, Jun 07 2015
   

       Mobile phones are getting powerful enough to make this idea inexpensive and easy to implement (tricorder whistle during scanning is standard).
—TIB, Jun 07 2015
   
      
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