Chromophore distribution maps are useful tools for skin malformation severity assessment and for monitoring of skin recovery after burns, surgeries, and other interactions. The chromophore maps can be obtained by processing several spectral images of skin, e.g., captured by hyperspectral or multispectral cameras during seconds or even minutes. To avoid motion artifacts and simplify the procedure, a single-snapshot technique for mapping melanin, oxyhemoglobin, and deoxyhemoglobin of in-vivo skin by a smartphone under simultaneous three-wavelength (448–532–659 nm) laser illumination is proposed and examined. Three monochromatic spectral images related to the illumination wavelengths were extracted from the smartphone camera RGB image data set with respect to crosstalk between the RGB detection bands. Spectral images were further processed accordingly to Beer’s law in a three chromophore approximation. Photon absorption path lengths in skin at the exploited wavelengths were estimated by means of Monte Carlo simulations. The technique was validated clinically on three kinds of skin lesions: nevi, hemangiomas, and seborrheic keratosis. Design of the developed add-on laser illumination system, image-processing details, and the results of clinical measurements are presented and discussed.
The concept of snapshot red-green-blue (RGB) multispectral imaging was applied for skin chromophore mapping. Three monochromatic spectral images have been extracted from a single RGB image dataset at simultaneous illumination of skin by 473-, 532-, and 659-nm laser lines. The spectral images were further transformed into distribution maps of skin melanin, oxyhemoglobin, and deoxyhemoglobin, related to pigmented and vascular skin malformations. The performance and clinical potential of the proposed technique are discussed
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