An optical backscatter measuring instrument called a Nevoscope is being developed to non-invasively determine 3D characteristics of skin lesions with applications in the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Optical images are obtained by transilluminating the lesion and imaging backscattered radiation emanating from the skin surface. Such emission profiles contain information about the absorption characteristics of sub-surface structures. It is conceivable that such profiles can be used to reconstruct structural information of inhomogeneities such as a mole embedded in the skin. Monte Carlo simulations of photon migration are performed to simulate the radiation pattern of backscattered radiation imaged at the surface of the medium when a light source is placed directly on the surface of the medium. In particular, simulations are performed on media with single embedded absorbers. This is the simplest model of a mole embedded in human skin. Some reconstruction algorithms based on the difference in emission profiles in the presence and absence of the absorber, are tested. A prototype Nevoscope presently being used for visual examination is described. Heuristic reconstruction schemes using images obtained from the Nevoscope are also presented.
An optical backscatter measuring instru ment called a Nevoscope is being developed to non invasively determine 3D characteristics of skin le sions with applications in the diagnosis of malignant melanoma. Backscattered radiation measurements are used in a heuristic 3-D reconstruction scheme. Monte Carlo simulations of photon histories are employed to study the propagation of light in a turbid medium such as the human skin.
A clinical instrument called a "Nevoscope" is used to image skin-lesions. The lesion is transilluminated by a fiber-optic annular ring light source that directs light into the skin area surrounding the lesion and thus forming a virtual source just beneath the lesion. Mirrors uniformly spaced around the lesion and tilted at various angles, provide orthographic projections of the skin lesion. Additional views are obtained by rotating the mirror assembly. These multiple views are used in a direct 3-D reconstruction of the lesion to estimate its depth of penetration. A pigment pattern analysis is performed on the direct view. This includes both color and texture segmentation. In this paper, we present preliminary results of our 3-D reconstruction and pigment pattern analyses of some lesions.
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