Development of New Imaging Tools for the Early Detection of Buruli Ulcer Disease

布鲁里溃疡（BU）是一种毁灭性的食肉细菌感染，每年影响成千上万的人，大多数是15岁以下的儿童。如果发现早期BU可以很容易地治疗和治愈。在过去的几年中，自动皮肤镜系统已经显示出在早期阶段准确检测皮肤病变的前景。该提案的目标是开发软件工具来分析可疑的皮肤病变，以便在早期阶段自动检测BU。我们建议1）使用具有不同频率的光的表面照明来收集一组定义明确的BU图像，2）开发用于精确病变分割的算法，3）识别与表面和亚表面病变特征相关的关键特征，例如形态、颜色、纹理和亚表面组织硬化和增厚，4）开发基于具有内核的隐式映射的新分类器，5）通过两个领域专家独立地对新算法进行人工图像分割和病变标记的性能测试。此外，拟议项目还涉及技术和社会经济问题，即（a）在计算能力和内存有限并采用定点运算的手机等通用设备上部署先进诊断工具的可行性，以及（B）使用普通照相手机等非描述性技术是否保护患者隐私，因此，它有助于个人克服与布鲁里溃疡相关的社会耻辱感，以便他们寻求治疗。拟议的项目是一个重要的一步，自动化工具的发展，以确定与BU的关键结构特征。到目前为止，还没有一个系统能够做到这一点，也没有一个系统能够结合深层组织特征来识别这些结构。如果成功，该软件将作为诊断辅助工具，用于大规模部署。使用手机等通用设备不仅有助于改善医疗保健的可及性，还有助于提高患者的生活质量，同时还能最大限度地降低医疗保健服务的成本。 公共卫生相关性：布鲁里溃疡（BU）是一种破坏性和潜在的衰弱性热带疾病，影响30多个国家的人们。布鲁里溃疡被列入世界卫生组织被忽视的疾病名单，是可以治疗和预防的。开发和应用低成本、无处不在、非侵入性的技术，使当地医疗服务提供者的最终用户能够私下使用这些技术，对于（1）增加获得医疗服务的机会和（2）解决与医院就诊相关的耻辱感至关重要。该项目的成功可以降低这种疾病的治疗费用，并提高患者的生活质量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Buruli ulcer (BU) is a devastating flesh-eating bacterial infection that, each year, affects thousands of people, mostly children under the age of 15 years. If detected early BU can be easily treated and cured. In the last few years, automated dermoscopy systems have shown promise for accurate detection of skin lesions in the early stages. The objective of this proposal is to develop software tools to analyze suspicious skin lesions to automatically detect BU at an early stage. We propose to 1) collect a well-defined set of BU images using surface illumination with light of different frequencies, 2) develop algorithms for accurate lesion segmentation 3) identify critical features that correlate with surface and subsurface lesion characteristics, such as morphology, color, texture, and subsurface tissue hardening and thickening, 4) develop new classifiers based on implicit mapping with kernels, 5) test the performance of the new algorithms against manual image segmentation and lesion labeling by two domain experts independently. In addition, the proposed project addresses technological and socioeconomic issues, namely (a) the feasibility of deploying sophisticated diagnostic tools on general-purpose devices, such as cell phones which have limited computing power and memory, and employ fixed-point arithmetic, and (b) whether the use of non-descript technology, such as ordinary camera cell phones protects patient privacy, and thus it helps individuals to overcome the social stigma associated with BU so that that they will seek treatment. The proposed project is an important step toward the development of automated tools for identifying key structural features associated with BU. As of yet, no system accomplishes this, and no system has incorporated deep tissue characteristics to identify these structures. If successful, this software will be available as a diagnostic adjunct for deployment on a broad scale. The use of general-purpose devices like cell phones will help improve not only access to healthcare, but also the quality of life of patients, while also minimizing the cost of health care delivery. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Buruli Ulcer (BU) is a devastating and potentially debilitating tropical disease that affects people in more than 30 countries. BU is listed on the WHO list of neglected disease and is treatable and preventable. The development and application of low-cost, ubiquitous, non-invasive technologies that can be used privately by the end user of the local health care provider is critical for (1) increasing access to healthcare and (2) addressing the stigma associated with hospital visits. The success of the project can lower the cost of treatment for this disease and also improve the quality of life of patients.