A 3-D measurement system for the extraction of diagnostic parameters in suspected skin nevoid lesions

The possibility of measuring the shape of different objects by means of noncontact measurement system and of providing its extremely accurate graphic reproduction has suggested its application to those skin lesions of irregular shape which would otherwise be difficult to study without the aid of optical devices. What follows hereafter is the description of a system for the measurement of three-dimensional (3-D) surfaces by determining the cartesian coordinates of a grid of points located on them, thus allowing the recreation of the shape of the measured object. The application to the nevoid lesions here proposed is aimed at enhancing knowledge in the field of the measurement and reconstruction of skin characteristics. In particular, the system was applied to the topographical survey of skin lesions of irregular shape whose edges are difficult to measure with a good accuracy, without the aid of optical instruments. The data measured have shown high usefulness both for the diagnosis and in order to investigate the correlation between morphological characteristics of the lesions and kind of lesions