title: Differences in the known cellular composition of benign pigmented skin lesions reflected in computer-aided image analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Computer-aided image analysis (CAIA) has been suggested as an effective diagnostic tool for pigmented skin lesions (PSLs), especially melanoma. However, few studies on benign PSLs have been reported.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate benign PSLs with our CAIA software and analyze the differences between the parameters of those lesions.
  
  
  METHODS
  By using homegrown CAIA software, we analyzed 3 kinds of PSLs-nevus, lentigo, and seborrheic keratosis. The group of seborrheic keratosis was divided into pigmented seborrheic keratosis, sebolentigine, and hyperkeratotic seborrheic keratosis. The CAIA was used to extract the color, as well as the morphological, textural, and topological features from each image.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In line with clinical observations, the objective parameters indicated that nevus was dark and round, lentigo was small and bright, and seborrheic keratosis was large and spiky. The surface of nevus showed the highest contrast and correlation. In topological analysis, the concentricity clearly separated melanocytic lesions from seborrheic keratosis. The parameters of pigmented seborrheic keratosis were between those of typical nevus and seborrheic keratosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We confirmed that definite correlations exist between the subjective differentiation by experts' examination and the objective evaluation by using CAIA. We also found that the morphological differences observed in CAIA were greatly influenced by the composition ratios of keratinocytes and melanocytes, which are already known histopathological characteristics of each PSL.
authors: Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
authors: Jae Woo
authors: JW
authors: Choi
authors: Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
authors: Hyeong Ho
authors: HH
authors: Ryu
authors: Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
authors: Sang Young
authors: SY
authors: Byun
authors: Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seongnam, Korea.
authors: Sang Woong
authors: SW
authors: Youn
keywords: Benign pigmented skin lesion; Bioengineering; Computer-aided image analysis; Objective assessment; Topological analysis