STTR Phase I: Dermatologist-level detection of suspicious pigmented skin lesions from high-resolution full-body images

这个小企业技术转移计划(STTR)第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是改善皮肤病的结果，并在没有专家的情况下改善临床护理。这项拟议的技术能够对癌症、牛皮癣、特应性皮炎和其他炎症性皮肤疾病进行成本效益高的筛查。在美国，牛皮癣影响着大约800万人，而在美国，大约有3160万人患有某种形式的湿疹，包括特应性皮炎。建议的系统生成高度放大的皮肤图像，供临床医生或基于人工智能的自动化系统分析。这个小企业技术转移计划(STTR)第一阶段项目集成了几个子系统：1)一个扫描仪和软件，在几分钟内捕获和重建患者整个皮肤表面的超高分辨率(皮肤镜级别)模型；2)一个多光谱照明系统，提供比典型白光系统目前提供的更多信息，潜在地提高敏感度，并在病变检测和分类中指定目标；以及3)一个从高分辨率图像自动发现和分类病变的系统。该系统使图像的自动分类超越了以前由临床医生过滤的图像。此外，该系统的紫外线照明系统有可能用于光动力疗法。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) Phase I project is to improve outcomes in dermatology and enable improved clinical care in the absence of specialists. The proposed technology enables cost-effective screening for cancer, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and other inflammatory skin conditions. In the United States, psoriasis affects about 8 million people while about 31.6 million people in the United States have some form of eczema, including atopic dermatitis. The proposed system generates a highly magnified image of the skin for analysis by a clinician or an artificial-intelligence based automated system. This Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR) Phase I project integrates several subsystems: 1) a scanner and software to capture and reconstruct super high-resolution (dermatoscope level) model of the entire skin surface of patients in a matter of minutes; 2) a multispectral illumination system to provide more information than currently available from a typical white-light systems, potentially leading to superior sensitivity and specify in lesion detection and classification; and 3) a system to find and classify lesions automatically from high-resolution images. This system advances the automated classification of images beyond those filtered previously by a clinician. Moreover, the system's UV illuminations system potentially can be used in a photodynamic treatment regimen.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.