US 20060269111A1
(i9) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication oo) Pub. No.: US 2006/0269111 Al
Stoecker et al. (43) Pub. Date: Nov. 30,2006
(54) AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF CRITICAL DERMOSCOPY FEATURES FOR MALIGNANT MELANOMA DIAGNOSIS
(75) Inventors: William V. Stoecker, Rolla, MO (US);
Randy H. Moss, Rolla, MO (US); R.
Joe Stanley, Rolla, MO (US); Xiaohe
Chen, Rolla, MO (US); Kapil Gupta,
Rolla, MO (US); Ravirala K.S.
Narayana, Rolla, MO (US); Bijaya
Shrestha, Rolla, MO (US); Pavani
Jella, Boise, ID (US)
Correspondence Address:
GREENLEE WINNER AND SULLIVAN P C
4875 PEARL EAST CIRCLE
SUITE 200
BOULDER, CO 80301 (US)
(73) Assignee: Stoecker & Associates, a Subsidiary of The Dermatology Center, LLC, Rolla, MO
(21) Appl. No.: 11/421,031
(22) Filed: May 30, 2006
Related U.S. Application Data
(60) Provisional application No. 60/685,664, filed on May 27, 2005.
Publication Classification
(51) Int. CI.
G06K 9/00 (2006.01)
(52) U.S. CI 382/128
Improved methods for computer-aided analysis of identifying features of skin lesions from digital images of the lesions are provided. Improved preprocessing of the image that 1) eliminates artifacts that occlude or distort skin lesion features and 2) identifies groups of pixels within the skin lesion that represent features and/or facilitate the quantification of features are provided including improved digital hair removal algorithms. Improved methods for analyzing lesion features are also provided.
