SKIN-TUMOUR CLASSIFICATION WITH FUNCTIONAL INFRARED IMAGING

摘要

The number of skin-cancer cases has dramatically increased during the last decades. Generally, an early diagnosis is the key for successful treatment. However, a first diagnosis is always done with Stolz's traditional (subjective) ABCD rule of dermatoscopy based on the four main criteria or lesion parameters: Asymmetry, Border, Colour and Diameter. Unfortunately, a sound decision if a skin tumor is malignant or benign is based on an invasive histological examination only. To avoid redundant excise of tissue and to detect malignant skin lesions in an early stage, a new method is described here. Functional IR imaging is proposed for differential diagnosis of skin tumour types. The principle follows the paradigm that the temperature signature of the thermo-regulation process after a cooling provocation is a characteristic of the tumour type. Image sequels will be presented for a basal-cell carcinoma and a dysplastic nevus.Since the imaging sequel is acquired with an IR camera equipped with macro lenses, patient motion correction is a prerequisite. This registration process is performed with the help of fiducial markers attached to the patient. Point landmarks are extracted from the markers via Hough transform.