The role of dynamic infrared imaging in melanoma diagnosis

Abstract

Melanoma incidence and the lifetime risk are increasing at an alarming rate in the United States and worldwide. In order to improve survival rates, the goal is to detect melanoma at an early stage of the disease. Accurate, sensitive and reliable quantitative diagnostic tools can reduce the number of unnecessary biopsies, the associated morbidity as well as the costs of care in addition to improving survival rates. The recently introduced quantitative dynamic infrared imaging system QUAINT measures differences in the infrared emission between healthy tissue and the lesion during the thermal recovery process after the removal of a cooling stress. Results from a clinical study suggest that the temperature of cancerous lesions is higher during the first 45-60 seconds of thermal recovery than the temperature of benign pigmented lesions. This small temperature difference can be measured by modern infrared cameras and serve as an indicator for melanoma in modern quantitative melanoma detectors.

Keywords: Melanoma detection; infrared cameras; infrared imaging; quantitative imaging; thermal recovery; thermostimulation.

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Imaging and image processing steps for quantitative detection of melanoma using QUAINT.

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Image analysis steps and thermal recovery temperature profiles in melanoma detection using QUAINT: a) white light image with characteristic points for image analysis (rectangular marker and lesion center), b) edge and corner detection in the IR image, c) lesion contour registration in the IR images, d) temperature profiles without motion correction (information loss) and e) after motion correction, demonstrating the presence of temperature difference – to be used in quantitative diagnostic applications - between a cancerous lesion and the surrounding healthy skin.