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

描述(申请人提供)：布鲁里溃疡(BU)是一种毁灭性的食肉细菌感染，每年影响数千人，主要是15岁以下的儿童。如果早期发现BU，可以很容易地治疗和治愈。在过去的几年里，自动皮肤镜系统显示出在早期阶段准确检测皮肤损伤的前景。这项提议的目的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发现BU。我们建议1)利用不同频率的表面光照收集一组定义良好的BU图像；2)开发精确的病变分割算法；3)识别与表面和亚表面病变特征相关的关键特征，如形态、颜色、纹理和亚表面组织硬化和增厚；4)开发基于核函数隐式映射的新分类器；5)测试新算法的性能，以对抗由两个领域专家独立进行的手动图像分割和病变标记。此外，拟议项目涉及技术和社会经济问题，即(A)在计算能力和内存有限的手机等通用设备上部署复杂的诊断工具并使用定点运算的可行性，以及(B)使用普通照相手机等非描述技术是否保护患者隐私，从而帮助个人克服与BU相关的社会耻辱，以便他们寻求治疗。拟议的项目是朝着开发自动化工具迈出的重要一步，这些工具用于确定与BU相关的关键结构特征。到目前为止，还没有系统能做到这一点，也没有系统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广泛部署。使用手机等通用设备不仅有助于改善获得医疗保健的机会，还有助于提高患者的生活质量，同时还将医疗保健提供的成本降至最低。 公共卫生相关性：布鲁里溃疡(BU)是一种毁灭性的、可能使人虚弱的热带疾病，影响着30多个国家的人民。BU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。开发和应用可供当地医疗保健提供者最终用户私下使用的低成本、无处不在的非侵入性技术，对于(1)增加获得医疗保健的机会和(2)消除与就诊相关的耻辱至关重要。该项目的成功可以降低这种疾病的治疗成本，也可以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.