Abstract
IntroductionHyperspectral imaging has been used in dermatology for many years. The enrichment of hyperspectral imaging with image analysis broadens considerably the possibility of reproducible, quantitative evaluation of, for example, melanin and haemoglobin at any location in the patient's skin. The dedicated image analysis method proposed by the authors enables to automatically perform this type of measurement.Material and methodAs part of the study, an algorithm for the analysis of hyperspectral images of healthy human skin acquired with the use of the Specim camera was proposed. Images were collected from the dorsal side of the hand. The frequency λ of the data obtained ranged from 397 to 1030 nm. A total of 4'000 2D images were obtained for 5 hyperspectral images. The method proposed in the paper uses dedicated image analysis based on human anthropometric data, mathematical morphology, median filtration, normalization and others. The algorithm was implemented in Matlab and C programs and is used in practice.ResultsThe algorithm of image analysis and processing proposed by the authors enables segmentation of any region of the hand (fingers, wrist) in a reproducible manner. In addition, the method allows to quantify the frequency content in different regions of interest which are determined automatically. Owing to this, it is possible to perform analyses for melanin in the frequency range λ E ∈(450,600) nm and for haemoglobin in the range λ H ∈(397,500) nm extending into the ultraviolet for the type of camera used. In these ranges, there are 189 images for melanin and 126 images for haemoglobin. For six areas of the left and right sides of the little finger (digitus minimus manus), the mean values of melanin and haemoglobin content were 17% and 15% respectively compared to the pattern.ConclusionsThe obtained results confirmed the usefulness of the proposed new method of image analysis and processing in dermatology of the hand as it enables reproducible, quantitative assessment of any fragment of this body part. Each image in a sequence was analysed in this way in no more than 100 ms using Intel Core i5 CPU M460 @2.5 GHz 4 GB RAM.
Highlights
Hyperspectral imaging has been used in dermatology for many years
The algorithm of image analysis and processing proposed by the authors enables segmentation of any region of the hand in a reproducible manner
The obtained results confirmed the usefulness of the proposed new method of image analysis and processing in dermatology of the hand as it enables reproducible, quantitative assessment of any fragment of this body part
Summary
The results of automatic division into the fingers and wrist of the human hand (Figure 6) are further used in the tests. The characteristics of the described method are as follows: Repeatability of measurements owing to limiting of operator’s participation in the study, Full automatic operation of the algorithm - the arguments for each algorithm function are set once when first starting the algorithm – as they only depend on the type of the multispectral camera used, Possibility of any quantitative (not qualitative) assessment of the amount of melanin or haemoglobin in any area of the hand, Possibility of automatic comparison of the results of any area of the finger with other areas or other study of the same person in therapy/disease monitoring, Time analysis of a single image sequence does not exceed 100 ms when using Intel Core i5 CPU M460 @2.5 GHz 4 GB RAM.
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