In this paper, we report a novel three-dimensional (3D) wound imaging system (hardware and software) under development at Technest Inc. System design is aimed to perform accurate 3D measurement and modeling of a wound and track its healing status over time. Accurate measurement and tracking of wound healing enables physicians to assess, document, improve, and individualize the treatment plan given to each wound patient. In current wound care practices, physicians often visually inspect or roughly measure the wound to evaluate the healing status. This is not an optimal practice since human vision lacks precision and consistency. In addition, quantifying slow or subtle changes through perception is very difficult. As a result, an instrument that quantifies both skin color and geometric shape variations would be particularly useful in helping clinicians to assess healing status and judge the effect of hyperemia, hematoma, local inflammation, secondary infection, and tissue necrosis. Once fully developed, our 3D imaging system will have several unique advantages over traditional methods for monitoring wound care: (a) Non-contact measurement; (b) Fast and easy to use; (c) up to 50 micron measurement accuracy; (d) 2D/3D Quantitative measurements;(e) A handheld device; and (f) Reasonable cost (< $1,000).

Date Published: 1 March 2011
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 7964, Medical Imaging 2011: Visualization, Image-Guided Procedures, and Modeling, 796433 (1 March 2011); doi: 10.1117/12.877020

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7964:
Medical Imaging 2011: Visualization, Image-Guided Procedures, and Modeling
Kenneth H. Wong; David R. Holmes III, Editor(s)