Segmentation and analysis of the tissue composition of dermatological ulcers

Ulcered lesions on the legs and feet caused by venous insufficiency and other conditions require long-term clinical treatment and follow-up. To facilitate the analysis of the tissue composition of a lesion, we propose color imaging and image processing methods. Methods considering the bottom tissues are proposed for the segmentation of a given image into regions corresponding to red granulation, yellow fibrin, black scar, and white hyperkeratotic tissue (callous). Tests with 172 images and comparison with visual analysis by a dermatologist indicated an average root-mean-squared error of 22.7% in tissue composition. In retrospective analysis, the dermatologist indicated that the results were accurate for 31.4% and acceptable for 14% of the images. Comparison between the lesion area obtained automatically and the same lesion region manually drawn by a dermatologist indicated an average superposition of 0.61.