After more than two decades of effort, reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) imaging of skin has been granted reimbursement codes by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
A report in Lasers in Surgery and Medicine highlights this 20-year journey, with an eye toward the next 20 years.
RCM imaging of skin is a successful non-invasive tool in identifying benign lesions that can spare patients a skin biopsy. The RCM imaging procedure now has a granted category I current procedural terminology (CPT) reimbursement code, which may make it a more widely adopted procedure.
“Still much more work lies ahead toward wider dissemination, acceptance and adoption of RCM imaging,” says Milind Rajadhyaksha, PhD, a mechanical/optical engineer, an associate member of the faculty in dermatology, and directs a research program in confocal microscopy at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, in a news release.
The article was selected as Editor’s Choice in the January 2017 issue of Lasers in Surgery and Medicine.