ASSESSMENT OF HEALING KINETICS THROUGH TRUE COLOR IMAGE-PROCESSING

A new quantitative method of skin healing assessment using true color image processing is proposed in this paper. This method was developed during a clinical trial in healthy volunteers. The goal of this trial was to study a new drug aimed to accelerate the healing. Photographic images of the skin were sequentially acquired between day 1 and day 12 after pure painless epidermal wounds. These images were digitized in controlled conditions using a color video camera connected to a computer system. A color threshold based segmentation was developed to provide an operator-independant delineation of the wound. Two healing indexes were built measuring, respectively, the wound area and the wound color. The method was implemented in a software allowing a fully automated determination of these healing indexes. This method gives a new quantitative global assessment of healing kinetics. It is noninvasive and well suited for multicentric clinical trails.