Current state of dermatovenereological medical organizations’ equipment for dermascopy

Abstract

Background: The use of the dermascopy for diagnosing skin diseases is determined by the clinical guidelines. Foreign-made dermatoscopes make up 99% of the equipment of medical organizations in Russia. However, under the conditions of economic sanctions, the supply and maintenance of medical products by foreign companies in Russia has been significantly reduced or completely stopped, which may negatively affect the quality of medical care. Aims: To assess the current state of technical support of medical organizations of the dermatovenereology profile with equipment for dermascopy. Materials and methods: Information on the availability of dermatoscopes was obtained from 72 medical organizations of the dermatovenereological profile. The obtained data were structured, standardized and brought to a general form. Further processing of the information was carried out using descriptive statistics methods. Results: The surveyed medical organizations are equipped with 1,716 devices for dermascopy, of which 1,700 (99.1%) units are foreign-made, 16 (0.9%) units are Russian-made. Of the total number of dermatoscopes, 1,580 (92.1%) devices are portable models, 86 (5.0%) are digital devices with software and 50 (2.9%) are video dermatoscopes. Most of the foreign medical equipment - 1,546 units (90.1%) is made in Germany. In 31 (48.4%) medical organizations, the number of dermatoscopes is less than the number of dermatovenereology offices. The equipment of 24-hour hospitals with dermatoscopes is 5.2%, day hospitals - 17.1%. Conclusions: There is a need to equip medical organizations with high-quality dermatoscopes. In the context of economic sanctions, the development and registration of the national dermatoscope is an urgent task.