Product Review
Patient Comfort
When the 6 dentist evaluators were asked about the
importance of patient comfort when purchasing an
oral cancer screening system, 2 said it was very important,
3 said it was important, and 1 was neutral on the
subject. However, when they rated VELscope on
patient comfort, 3 rated it as excellent, 2 rated it as
very good, and 1 rated it as good.
Persuading Patients to Have a Screening
The evaluators were asked how important they
thought it was that persuading a patient to have a
screening should be easy. Two of the evaluators
said very important, 2 said important,
and 2 were neutral. Then the evaluators
were asked to rate the ease of persuading
patients to have a screening with
VELscope and they gave the device high
marks. Three evaluators said it was excellent,
1 said it was very good, and 2 said it
was good. One evaluator commented
that “most [patients] accept the concept.”
How VELscope Works
The use of VELscope is fairly straight
forward. The clinician shines the VELscope
handpiece into the patient’s mouth.
The handpiece emits a blue light that
excites the oral tissue from the surface of
the epithelium through to the basement
membrane, which is where premalignant
changes usually begin, and into the stroma
beneath. The light then causes the tissue
to fluoresce. Abnormal tissue typically
appears as an irregular, dark area that
stands out against the otherwise normal,
green fluorescence pattern of surrounding
healthy tissue.
VELscope is an adjunct to a traditional
intra- and extraoral examination. If a
suspicious lesion cannot be determined
to be benign, the manufacturer recommends
that clinicians use their clinical
judgment and proceed according to the
regular standard of care (eg, a follow-up
examination in 2 weeks and/or referral to
a specialist as appropriate). If at that time
the lesion has not resolved, the patient
should be referred to a specialist.
Overall Satisfaction
When the dentist evaluators were
asked if they would recommend VELscope
to colleagues, 3 said they definitely
or probably would; 3 said they were
not sure. When asked if they would
purchase VELscope in the future, 50%
said definitely. For overall satisfaction,
4 of the evaluators gave VELscope an
excellent to good rating. One evaluator
commented on return on investment,
saying that they are “not yet charging
for the exam but [it is] great PR.”
Another evaluator commented on how
VELscope has “improved [the] quality”
of their practice’s ability to care for
patients’ systemic health.
|
|
Request More Info
|
