BackgroundWound measuring serves medical personnel as a tool to assess the effectiveness of a therapy and predict its outcome. Clinically used methods vary from measuring using rules and calipers to sophisticated methods, based on 3D measuring. Our method combines the added value of 3D measuring and well-known segmentation algorithms to enable volume calculation and achieve reliable and operator-independent analysis, as we demonstrate in the paper.MethodsDeveloped 3D measuring system is based on laser triangulation with simultaneous color acquisition. Wound shape analysis is based on the edge-determination, virtual healthy skin approximation over the wound and perimeter, area, and volume calculation. In order to validate the approach, eight operators analyzed four different wounds using proposed method. Measuring bias was assessed by comparing measured values with expected values on an artificially modeled set of wounds.ResultsResults indicate that the perimeter, area, and volume are measured with a repeatability of 2.5 mm, 12 mm2, and 30 mm3, respectively, and with a measuring bias of −0.2 mm, −8.6 mm2, 24 mm3, respectively.ConclusionsAccording to the results of verification and the fact that typical wound analysis takes 20 seconds, the method for wound shape measurement can be clinically used as a precise tool for objectively monitoring the wound healing based on measuring its 3D shape and color.
Based on these results and the ease of use, we conclude that the system is suitable to be used in daily clinical practice for measuring wound dimensions.
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