Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2008 Dec;32(8):670-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.compmedimag.2008.08.003. Epub 2008 Sep 19.

Automatic detection of blue-white veil and related structures in dermoscopy images

M Emre Celebi  1 , Hitoshi Iyatomi, William V Stoecker, Randy H Moss, Harold S Rabinovitz, Giuseppe Argenziano, H Peter Soyer
Affiliations

Automatic detection of blue-white veil and related structures in dermoscopy images

M Emre Celebi et al. Comput Med Imaging Graph. 2008 Dec.

Abstract

Dermoscopy is a non-invasive skin imaging technique, which permits visualization of features of pigmented melanocytic neoplasms that are not discernable by examination with the naked eye. One of the most important features for the diagnosis of melanoma in dermoscopy images is the blue-white veil (irregular, structureless areas of confluent blue pigmentation with an overlying white "ground-glass" film). In this article, we present a machine learning approach to the detection of blue-white veil and related structures in dermoscopy images. The method involves contextual pixel classification using a decision tree classifier. The percentage of blue-white areas detected in a lesion combined with a simple shape descriptor yielded a sensitivity of 69.35% and a specificity of 89.97% on a set of 545 dermoscopy images. The sensitivity rises to 78.20% for detection of blue veil in those cases where it is a primary feature for melanoma recognition.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Melanoma with blue-white veil (a) clinical image and (b) dermoscopy image. The steps of the blue-white veil detection procedure will be demonstrated on image (b).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Overview of the approach
Figure 3
Figure 3
Preprocessing
Figure 4
Figure 4
Preprocessing steps (a) B-spline approximation of the border, (b) binary border mask, (c) 10% (gray) and 20% (white) areas outside the lesion, and (d) manually selected veil (left circle) and non-veil (right circle) regions
Figure 5
Figure 5
Pixel classification tree
Figure 6
Figure 6
Postprocessing (a) initial veil mask and (b) final veil mask
Figure 7
Figure 7
Sample blue-white veil detection results. The veil and non-veil region borders are delineated with thick and thin lines, respectively.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Image classification tree
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Jemal A, Siegel R, Ward E, et al. Cancer Statistics 2007. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 2007;57(1):43–66. - PubMed
    1. Nachbar F, Stolz W, Merkle T, et al. The ABCD Rule of Dermatoscopy. High Prospective Value in the Diagnosis of Doubtful Melanocytic Skin Lesions. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 1994;30(4):551–559. - PubMed
    1. Menzies SW, Zalaudek I. Why perform Dermoscopy? The evidence for its role in the routine management of pigmented skin lesions. Arch Dermatol. 2006;142:1211–1222. - PubMed
    1. Argenziano G, Fabbrocini G, Carli P, et al. Epiluminescence Microscopy for the Diagnosis of Doubtful Melanocytic Skin Lesions: Comparison of the ABCD rule of Dermatoscopy and a New 7-Point Checklist Based on Pattern Analysis. Archives of Dermatology. 1998;134(12):1563–1570. - PubMed
    1. Argenziano G, Soyer HP, Chimenti S, Talamini R, Corona R, Sera F, et al. Dermoscopy of Pigmented Skin Lesions: Results of a Consensus Meeting via the Internet. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. 2003;48(5):679–693. - PubMed

Publication types