The Development of a Low-Cost, Quantitative Skin Imaging Camera

描述（由申请人提供）：数字摄影的进步使其成为皮肤病学应用的有效和经济的选择，以在治疗计划期间记录皮肤特征并评估治疗结果。然而，商业级数码相机并不等同，不同品牌的相机会产生令人惊讶的变化，具有定性颜色信息的照片，临床医生将解释这些信息以评估生理组织健康。先进的光学成像方法和设备提供了对组织结构和生化状态进行定量表征的能力。为此，已经提出了利用称为调制成像（MI）的新成像技术的低成本、手持式、定量皮肤成像相机的设计和制造。此外，组织体模上器械性能的评估将提供可用于确定体内组织分析性能的客观参数。调制成像（MI）是在NIH/NCRR生物医学技术资源中心资助下资助的最新激光和医学微束计划（LAMMP）的过程中开发的技术，其采用多光谱、图案化照明以在宽视场内非侵入性地获得组织的光学性质，以确定发色团的体内浓度，即氧合/脱氧血红蛋白（HbO 2/Hb）和水（H2O）。此外，该系统可以确定皮肤的真实反射率，并考虑身体曲率以生成校准的RGB图像，并可能测量黑色素浓度。这项建议的广泛目标是采取MI技术，开发一种类似于数码单反相机的手持相机。除了提供更准确的RGB评估外，这项工作还将把一种提供皮肤定量生化信息的技术转变为一种在研发应用中具有更广泛适用性的设备，目前这种设备过于昂贵和繁琐。该提案详细说明了在以下进展中系统地研究和开发该技术的努力：1）开发并记录皮肤病学应用的MI-DSLR系统的要求，2）进行波长/频率优化的建模和模拟，3）设计和制造满足开发要求的MI-DSLR相机，以及4）在实验室环境中验证MI-DSLR性能。本文概述的I期研究的成功完成将允许II期提案，该提案将扩展该研究，并将涉及用于临床试验的多个手持设备的设计和制造。最终的目的是开发MI-DSLR定量相机系统，用于研究和商业用途，在任何医疗应用中，数码相机目前被用于记录皮肤特征。 公共卫生相关性：我们建议利用一种称为调制成像（MI）的新型成像技术来开发一种用于皮肤病学应用的改进型手持式数码相机系统，该系统将提供比目前可用的更准确的色彩再现和组织健康状态。这款相机将使医生能够在治疗计划和治疗后评估期间进行更好的评估，从而提高成本效益并改善患者护理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advances in digital photography have made it an efficient and economic option for dermatology applications to document skin characteristics during treatment planning and to assess treatment outcome. Commercial-grade digital cameras, however, are not equivalent and different brands will produce pictures that are surprisingly variable with qualitative color information that the clinician will interpret to assess physiological tissue health. Advanced optical imaging methods and devices offer the ability to perform quantitative characterization of tissue structure and biochemical status. To this end, the design and fabrication of a low-cost, hand-held, quantitative skin imaging camera that exploits a new imaging technique known as Modulated Imaging (MI) has been proposed. Additionally, assessment of the performance of the device on tissue phantoms will provide objective parameters that can be used to determine performance for in-vivo tissue analysis. Modulated Imaging (MI), a technology that has been developed over the course of the most recent Laser and Medical Microbeam Program (LAMMP) funded under a NIH/NCRR Biomedical Technology Resource Center grant, employs multispectral, patterned illumination to non-invasively obtain optical properties of tissues over a wide field-of-view to determine the in-vivo concentrations of chromophores, namely oxy/deoxy-hemoglobin (HbO2/Hb) and water (H2O). In addition, the system can determine the true reflectivity of the skin and account for body curvature to generate calibrated RGB images, and potentially measure the melanin concentration. The broad goal of this proposal is to take the MI technology and develop a handheld camera akin to a digital- SLR. In addition to providing more accurate RGB assessment, this effort will transition a technology that provides quantitative biochemical information of the skin into a device with wider applicability in research and development applications where it is currently too expensive and cumbersome to do so. This proposal details the efforts to methodically investigate and develop this technology in the following progression: 1) Develop and document the requirements for an MI-DSLR system for dermatology applications, 2) Perform modeling and simulations for wavelength/frequency optimization, 3) Design and fabricate an MI-DSLR camera that satisfies the requirements developed, and 4) Validate the MI-DSLR performance in a laboratory setting. The successful completion of the Phase I research outlined herein, will allow a Phase II proposal that will expand upon this research and will involve the design and fabrication of multiple hand-held devices for clinical testing. The ultimate intent will be to develop the MI-DSLR quantitative camera system for research and commercial use in any medical application where digital cameras are currently being used for documenting skin characteristics. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We propose to exploit a novel imaging technique known as Modulated Imaging (MI) to develop an improved, hand-held digital camera system for dermatology applications that will provide more accurate color rendition and tissue health status then what is currently available. This camera will enable doctors to make better assessments during per-treatment planning and post- treatment evaluation, leading to cost-effective and improved patient care.