Reflectance measurements of skin lesions: noninvasive method for diagnostic evaluation of pigmented neoplasia

Abstract

The aims of this work are investigation and differentiation between normal skin and pigmented skin lesions by using optical reflectance spectroscopy. Optical reflectance spectra in the wavelength range 400-900 nm were obtained from malignant and benign skin lesions and characteristic differences between them were studied. The lesions were preliminarily classified dermatoscopically (MoleMax II, DERMA Instruments). All suspicious lesions were excised and the materials were investigated histologically by standard methods. An algorithm was developed for differentiation and valuation of the skin tissue condition using dimensionless ratios of the reflectance signal intensities of normal skin and pigmented lesions, which allowed the use of non-normalized reflectance spectra for lesion assessment. These ratios were found to have a definite diagnostic potential, as significant differences were observed between normal skin, benign and malignant pigmented lesions.