title: Improving the detection of stage I pressure ulcers by enhancing digital color images.
abstract: It has been observed in previous studies that the detection of stage I pressure ulcers becomes more difficult by unaided visual inspection and/or by using currently available techniques with darker skin subjects, due to increased melanin content. This difficulty is indicated by the elevated proportion of black and hispanic patients developing more serious stage III and IV pressure ulcers compared to white patients. The ultimate goal of this project, undertaken by MARC at the University of Virginia, is to develop a low-cost, non-contact imaging-based stage I pressure ulcer detection system for use by support staff in assisted living and skilled nursing facilities to increase the ulcer detection rate over a wide range of skin colors. This paper describes an image enhancement procedure that improves the detection of pressure ulcers when applied to the color images of ulcer sites. Preliminary results clearly indicate that the enhanced images exhibit higher contrast and make the pressure ulcer site more conspicuous to the examiner. The experiments show promising results even for subjects with black and dark brown skin colors.
authors.affiliation: Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA. pjr5f@virginia.edu
authors.forename: Prabhu J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Rajendran
authors.forename: Jon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leachtenauer
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kell
authors.forename: Beverely
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Newcomer
authors.forename: Courtney
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lyder
authors.forename: Majd
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alwan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D003116:Color; D003196:Computer Graphics; D004867:Equipment Design; D004890:Erythema / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes; D003668:Pressure Ulcer / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*; D012984:Software