Wearable battery-free chip-less patch for bioimpedance measurement of cutaneous lesions

Melanoma is an invasive type of skin cancer that may metastasize and cause death. Early identification and timely management of melanoma significantly increase the chance of successful treatment and reduce the mortality rate. Visual inspection of pigmented lesions is not objective, often necessitating additional diagnostic procedures such as dermoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy and biopsy. Here, we developed a wireless, battery-free, chip-less patch that non-invasively measures bio-impedance of lesions and suspicious parts of skin to melanoma as a complementary, nonvisual, wearable device. The patch, in conjunction with personal electronics, can detect abnormal bioimpedances that are associated with the risk of melanoma and alert the need for medical consultation in the early stage of development. Our analytical and experimental results as well as a pilot human subject study showed that the wearable patch identified the difference in bioimpedance of pigmented lesions and healthy tissues on skin for early assessment of lesions.