Magnos

Scientists at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) predict that the number of new cases of skin melanoma each year will increase by more than 50 per cent by 2040. As with many types of cancer, early detection of skin cancer at least improves the prognosis. Until now, screening has generally been carried out in an analogue way – with the help of a magnifying glass and light. Magnos is an innovative dermatoscope that harnesses the possibilities of digitalisation to optimise the detection of skin cancer. It was developed in close collaboration with dermatologists and enables doctors to diagnose and monitor skin cancer more accurately thanks to its outstanding resolution, 20x zoom and true-colour images. The biggest challenge in the development process for designers and engineers was that Magnos was to be a handheld tool. “The prototypes were all still very large. The process of miniaturisation to harmoniously integrate the technologies and solutions we developed into a small form factor device was very demanding,” says Thomas Diepold, Managing Director of Magnosco. Ultimately, with Magnos, they succeeded. It is a compact examination device that fulfils high ergonomic requirements. In order to achieve the goal of transferring the analogue world and the familiar handling of an optical dermatoscope to the digital world of smart devices, not only was the diagnostically relevant imaging itself digitised, but the Magnos user interface in the form of a dual-touch display and the interaction concept were also designed to be purely digital. Thus, the handling of Magnos is similar to that of a smartphone and ensures that users are guided through the screening process both safely and intuitively. The jury concluded that the product offers real added-value for dermatologists, who benefit from both its high performance and ease of operation. Furthermore, the jury was also impressed by the precise design and build quality of the dermatoscope: “Display, surfaces, components – all details are of extremely high quality and perfectly assembled with only minimal tolerances.”