title: Detection of basal cell carcinoma using color and histogram measures of semitranslucent areas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Semitranslucency, defined as a smooth, jelly-like area with varied, near-skin-tone color, can indicate a diagnosis of basal cell carcinoma (BCC) with high specificity. This study sought to analyze potential areas of semitranslucency with histogram-derived texture and color measures to discriminate BCC from non-semitranslucent areas in non-BCC skin lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  For 210 dermoscopy images, the areas of semitranslucency in 42 BCCs and comparable areas of smoothness and color in 168 non-BCCs were selected manually. Six color measures and six texture measures were applied to the semitranslucent areas of the BCC and the comparable areas in the non-BCC images.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that the texture measures alone provided greater separation of BCC from non-BCC than the color measures alone. Statistical analysis showed that the four most important measures of semitranslucency are three histogram measures: contrast, smoothness, and entropy, and one color measure: blue chromaticity. Smoothness is the single most important measure. The combined 12 measures achieved a diagnostic accuracy of 95.05% based on area under the ROC curve.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Texture and color analysis measures, especially smoothness, may afford automatic detection of BCC images with semitranslucency.
authors.affiliation: Stoecker and Associates, The Dermatology Center, 1702 E. 10th St. Rolla, MO, USA.
authors.forename: William V
authors.initials: WV
authors.lastname: Stoecker
authors.forename: Kapil
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.forename: Bijaya
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shrestha
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wronkiewiecz
authors.forename: Raeed
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chowdhury
authors.forename: R Joe
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Randy H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Moss
authors.forename: M Emre
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Celebi
authors.forename: Harold S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Rabinovitz
authors.forename: Margarat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oliviero
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Malters
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kolm
mesh_terms: D002280:Basal Cell Carcinoma / Q000473:pathology*; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods*; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D046169:Dermoscopy / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D012880:Skin Pigmentation