Abstract:
Dermoscopy is an elementary, non-invasive technique for diagnostic of pigmented and non-pigmented skin tumors. Dermoscopes differ in their technical design and therefore also have different reproduction properties, which eventually might also have impact on diagnosis. This thesis presents the first systematic comparison of mono-ocular dermoscopes in terms of light spreading, brightness, reproduction of colour and differential structures.
Using a digital camera, test images were taken of 142 skin tumors from 80 patients with the four dermoscopes (Heine Delta 10®, Heine Delta 20®, Dermogenius®, DermLite Foto 37® with and without glass plate). These pictures were evaluated and compared by a software product developed for skin tumor diagnosis based on digital image processing. Here, it was of interest to which extent the characteristics scores of dermoscopes match or differ. Furthermore, other test images were taken with each dermoscope for investigating technical reproduction capabilities, such as border sharpness, distortions and color. Finally a subjective evaluation of image quality was conducted and analyzed.
While all dermoscopes offer 10-fold magnification, they mainly differ with respect to light sources: Heine Delta 10® works with a halogen bulb, Heine Delta 20® and Dermogenius® with six white light emitting diodes (LED), while DermLite Foto 37® has 24 cross polarized white LED. In addition, also a dermoscope without glass plate and therefore without contact liquid was employed.
This study revealed differences mainly in lighting quality and color reproduction in the red color range. With digital image analysis, deviations could be monitored for all characteristics using one distinct dermoscope. The subjective evaluation revealed bad results for one of the four dermoscopes as well as for an absent glass plate, which results in non-visibility of differential structures.