Fuzzy C-Means Clustering with Histogram based Cluster Selection for Skin Lesion Segmentation using Non-Dermoscopic Images

Purpose – Pre-screening of skin lesion for malignancy is highly demanded as melanoma being a life-threatening skin cancer due to unpaired DNA damage. In this paper, lesion segmentation based on Fuzzy C-Means clustering using non-dermoscopic images has been proposed. Design/methodology/approach – The proposed methodology consists of automatic cluster selection for FCM using the histogram property. The system used the local maxima along with Euclidean distance to detect the binomial distribution property of the image histogram, to segment the melanoma from normal skin. As the Value channel of HSV color image provides better and distinct histogram distribution based on the entropy, it has been used for segmentation purpose. Findings – The proposed system can effectively segment the lesion region from the normal skin. The system provides a segmentation accuracy of 95.69 % and the comparative analysis has been performed with various segmentation methods. From the analysis, it has been observed that the proposed system can effectively segment the lesion region from normal skin automatically. Originality/Value – This paper suggests a new approach for skin lesion segmentation based on FCM with automatic cluster selection. Here, different color channel has also been analyzed using entropy to select the better channel for segmentation. In future, the classification of melanoma from benign naevi can be performed

The role of AI classifiers in skin cancer images

Background: The use of different imaging modalities to assist in skin cancer diagnosis is a common practice in clinical scenarios. Different features representative of the lesion under evaluation can be retrieved from image analysis and processing. However, the integration and understanding of these additional parameters can be a challenging task for physicians, so artificial intelligence (AI) methods can be implemented to assist in this process. This bibliographic research was performed with the goal of assessing the current applications of AI algorithms as an assistive tool in skin cancer diagnosis, based on information retrieved from different imaging modalities. Materials and methods: The bibliography databases ISI Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus were used for the literature search, with the combination of keywords: skin cancer, skin neoplasm, imaging and classification methods. Results: The search resulted in 526 publications, which underwent a screening process, considering the established eligibility criteria. After screening, only 65 were qualified for revision. Conclusion: Different imaging modalities have already been coupled with AI methods, particularly dermoscopy for melanoma recognition. Learners based on support vector machines seem to be the preferred option. Future work should focus on image analysis, processing stages and image fusion assuring the best possible classification outcome.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Computational Methods for Pigmented Skin Lesion Classification in Images: Review and Future Trends

Skin cancer is considered as one of the most common types of cancer in several countries, and its incidence rate has increased in recent years. Melanoma cases have caused an increasing number of deaths worldwide, since this type of skin cancer is the most aggressive compared to other types. Computational methods have been developed to assist dermatologists in early diagnosis of skin cancer. An overview of the main and current computational methods that have been proposed for pattern analysis and pigmented skin lesion classification is addressed in this review. In addition, a discussion about the application of such methods, as well as future trends, is also provided. Several methods for feature extraction from both macroscopic and dermoscopic images and models for feature selection are introduced and discussed. Furthermore, classification algorithms and evaluation procedures are described, and performance results for lesion classification and pattern analysis are given

Skin image illumination modeling and chromophore identication for melanoma diagnosis

International audienceThe presence of illumination variation in dermatological images has a negative impact on the automatic detection and analysis of cutaneous lesions. This paper proposes a new illumination modeling and chromophore identication method to correct lighting variation in skin lesion images, as well as to extract melanin and hemoglobin concentrations of human skin, based on an adaptive bilateral decomposition and a weighted polynomial curve tting, with the knowledge of a multi-layered skin model. Different from state-of-the-art approaches based on the Lambert law, the proposed method, considering both specular reection and diffuse reection of the skin, enables us to address highlight and strong shading effects usually existing in skin color images captured in an uncontrolled environment. The derived melanin and hemoglobin indices, directly relating to the pathological tissue conditions, tend to be less inuenced by external imaging factors and are more efcient in describing pigmentation distributions. Experiments show that the proposed method gave better visual results and superior lesion segmentation, when compared to two other illumination correction algorithms, both designed specically for dermatological images. For computer-aided diagnosis of melanoma, sensitivity achieves 85.52% when using our chromophore descriptors, which is 8~20% higher than those derived from other color descriptors. This demonstrates the benet of the proposed method for automatic skin disease analysis

Analysis of Temporal Variations in Dermoscopy Images of Pigmented Skin Lesions by Machine Learning Techniques

Each year more people are diagnosed with skin cancer all over the world. The large incidence in populations is causing a huge concern to the scientific community, which leads the development of multiple studies related to diagnose this type of cancer.Therefore computer-aided systems are becoming more important in this field due to the challenging task of discriminate benign from malignant skin lesions. These systems can process several images and are intended to make a decision based on the diagnosis achieved by the processing of the images which will reduce the dependency on the experience of the dermatologist and the time consumed in the visual interpretation of each lesion.The main goal of this thesis is the study of the evolution of pigmented skin lesions. Starting from two images of the same lesion at different moments of evaluation, that is the identification of changes that may lead to the intervention of the specialist. These possible alterations may be evidenced through image processing techniques implemented using MATLAB which may help the physician to make a decision. This work addresses three main steps in image processing namely pre-processing, segmentation and feature extraction and aims to obtain results based on the temporal analysis of the lesion

Automatic segmentation of skin lesions from dermatological photographs

Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer if left untreated. Incidence rates of melanoma have been increasing, especially among young adults, but survival rates are high if detected early. Unfortunately, the time and costs required for dermatologists to screen all patients for melanoma are prohibitively expensive. There is a need for an automated system to assess a patient's risk of melanoma using photographs of their skin lesions. Dermatologists could use the system to aid their diagnosis without the need for special or expensive equipment. One challenge in implementing such a system is locating the skin lesion in the digital image. Most existing skin lesion segmentation algorithms are designed for images taken using a special instrument called the dermatoscope. The presence of illumination variation in digital images such as shadows complicates the task of finding the lesion. The goal of this research is to develop a framework to automatically correct and segment the skin lesion from an input photograph. The first part of the research is to model illumination variation using a proposed multi-stage illumination modeling algorithm and then using that model to correct the original photograph. Second, a set of representative texture distributions are learned from the corrected photograph and a texture distinctiveness metric is calculated for each distribution. Finally, a texture-based segmentation algorithm classifies regions in the photograph as normal skin or lesion based on the occurrence of representative texture distributions. The resulting segmentation can be used as an input to separate feature extraction and melanoma classification algorithms. The proposed segmentation framework is tested by comparing lesion segmentation results and melanoma classification results to results using other state-of-the-art algorithms. The proposed framework has better segmentation accuracy compared to all other tested algorithms. The segmentation results produced by the tested algorithms are used to train an existing classification algorithm to identify lesions as melanoma or non-melanoma. Using the proposed framework produces the highest classification accuracy and is tied for the highest sensitivity and specificity