Patent ID: 6208749
Filing Date: 2001-03-27
Classification: A61B,G16H

Abstract:
A method of characterizing a skin lesion wherein the absorption and scab of light in different spectral bands by the skin lesion is a function of the condition of the skin, the method comprising:illuminating a portion of the skin including the region of interest by light in at least three spectral bands;digitally imaging a portion of the skin including the region of interest at the at least three spectral bands with the light re-emitted by the portion of the skin to generate digital images comprising digital signals whose values are a function of the condition of the region of interest of the skin; andproviding the digital images to a processor, wherein the processor:segments the digital image by generating a single segmentation mask defining the boundary of the region of interest for each image, where the single segmentation mask is the segmentation mask having largest area of segmentation masks generated from each image in each of the at least three spectral bands, without operator intervention;automatically computes at least one estimated value for each digital image at each spectral band which is a function of a characteristic of the portion of the region of interest determined by the segmentation mask, without operator intervention;characterizes the condition of the skin as malignant or benign based on the estimated values, without operator intervention; andoutputs the characterization of the condition of the skin.