A Cost-Effective Transparency-Based Digital Imaging for Efficient and Accurate Wound Area Measurement

Abstract

Wound measurement is an objective and direct way to trace the course of wound healing and to evaluate therapeutic efficacy. Nevertheless, the accuracy and efficiency of the current measurement methods need to be improved. Taking the advantages of reliability of transparency tracing and the accuracy of computer-aided digital imaging, a transparency-based digital imaging approach is established, by which data from 340 wound tracing were collected from 6 experimental groups (8 rats/group) at 8 experimental time points (Day 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14 and 16) and orderly archived onto a transparency model sheet. This sheet was scanned and its image was saved in JPG form. Since a set of standard area units from 1 mm2 to 1 cm2 was integrated into the sheet, the tracing areas in JPG image were measured directly, using the “Magnetic lasso tool” in Adobe Photoshop program. The pixel values/PVs of individual outlined regions were obtained and recorded in an average speed of 27 second/region. All PV data were saved in an excel form and their corresponding areas were calculated simultaneously by the formula of Y (PV of the outlined region)/X (PV of standard area unit) × Z (area of standard unit). It took a researcher less than 3 hours to finish area calculation of 340 regions. In contrast, over 3 hours were expended by three skillful researchers to accomplish the above work with traditional transparency-based method. Moreover, unlike the results obtained traditionally, little variation was found among the data calculated by different persons and the standard area units in different sizes and shapes. Given its accurate, reproductive and efficient properties, this transparency-based digital imaging approach would be of significant values in basic wound healing research and clinical practice.

Molecular events underlying maggot extract promoted rat in vivo and human in vitro skin wound healing

“…After getting the permission to conduct the animal experiment from Institutional Ethics Committee and the Committee on Research Animal Care of Dalian Medical University, 32 10‐week‐old male Sprague Dawley rats were provided by the Experimental Animal Center of Dalian Medical University and reared under specific pathogen‐free/SPF condition. The rats were anesthetized with 12 mg/kg xylazine via intraperitoneal injection, and ϕ1.5 cm 2 round open wounds down to the muscle fascia were made on the left flank by removing the skin layer (epidermis and dermis) . The animals were divided into four experimental groups in eight animals/group as group 1 (G1): dressed with Vaseline only as untreated control; G2: treated with a mixture of Vaseline and 150‐μg/mL extract from the maggots without excretion/secretion; G3: treated with a mixture of Vaseline and 150 μg/mL extract from the maggots with excretion/secretion; and G4: treated with a mixture of Vaseline and 15 μg/mL maggot excretion/secretion.…”

“…For protein preparation, the tissues in the size of 0.3 × 0.3 × 0.2 cm were biopsied from the wound margins of the four experimental groups at the postwounding times of day 3, 7, and 12 and snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. The frozen tissues were vertically sectioned in 5‐μm thickness, and 80–100 pieces of the slices were immediately put into 40‐μL cell lysate buffer . The remaining parts of the sample tissues were sectioned for immunohistochemical staining.…”

Sensory Assessment and Regression Rate of Bilateral Oblique Subcostal Transversus Abdominis Plane Block in Volunteers

“…The actual area of the digital image was 1217 cm 2 ; this corresponded to the area of the targeted region on digital image (1217*[PV-R/ fixed pixel value] cm 2 ). 14 The lines on the abdominal wall were removed when the transfer drawing was completed. The segmental dermatomes on both sides were marked using 2 parasagittal lines 3 cm lateral to midline, according to standard dermatome charting (the T6 dermatome at the level of the xiphoid process, T8 at the lower curve of costal margin, T10 at the umbilicus, T12 at the level just above symphysis ossium pubis, and L1 at the inguinal ligament).…”

“…The area of cutaneous sensory block of the anterior abdomen regressed over the ensuing 22 hours in the following manner: 90%, 87%, 73%, 50%, 22%, 3%, and 0% at 0. 5,6,10,14,18,22, and 26 hours, respectively.…”

Restoration of S100A4 expression enhances invasive and metastatic potentials of COLO16 cutaneous squamous cancer cells

“…The wound regions were photographed under the same magnification (X 40) by the end of experiment. The digital images were saved in personal computer in JPG form and the areas between the margins of individual wounds were calculated by counting the pixels of the cell-free regions versus the density of a pre-set standard area control (625 µm 2 ; 25 µm × 25 µm) by the methods described elsewhere [12].…”