Automated measurement of skin prick tests: an advance towards exact calculation of wheal size

Abstract

We present an accurate tool for exactly calculating SPT wheal size in mm(2).

Sensitization to lupine flour: is it clinically relevant?

“…Besides measuring the mean weal of the surface within the encircled area, histamine-equivalent prick (HEP) was calculated by dividing the area of the SPT of the allergen by the area of the mean of two histamines of the SPT using a flat bed scanner (Hewlett Packard 2400c, Houston, TX, USA) and software that was earlier developed in our hospital. Calculation of the surface of the weal in this way is more accurate and reproducible than manually determining the mean weal diameter [26][27][28][29]. With this technique, a cut-off of 0.21 corresponds to a weal size of 3 mm, the internationally accepted cut-off level for SPT.…”

Beyond flat weals: validation of a three-dimensional imaging technology that will improve skin allergy research

“…In the more ‘high‐technology’ method, 2 the investigator uses a pen to trace the border of the weal on the patient’s skin, then uses clear adhesive tape to transfer this marking onto a sheet of paper, which is finally run through a photocopy machine to fix the record for analysis. The traditional method cannot archive raw imagery and the tape‐transfer method is time‐consuming; 3 both methods are imprecise, inconsistent, and worst of all, two‐dimensional. Although sufficient for routine clinical examinations, these methods are inadequate for many research purposes 4 …”

Practical Imaging in Dermatology

“…The emphasis is often on detecting signs of melanoma and there exists a lot of literature on melanoma segmentation (Celebi et al, 2009;Gomez et al, 2008;2007), but only a few studies of measurement of allergic reactions from 2D pictures (Nischik & Forster, 1997;Roullot et al, 2005). There are also some studies which have been performed with 3D imaging (Santos et al, 2008) or other specialized imaging hardware (Wöhrl et al, 2006).…”