Enhanced assessment of the wound-healing process by accurate multiview tissue classification

With the widespread use of digital cameras, freehand wound imaging has become common practice in clinical settings. There is however still a demand for a practical tool for accurate wound healing assessment, combining dimensional measurements and tissue classification in a single user-friendly system. We achieved the first part of this objective by computing a 3-D model for wound measurements using uncalibrated vision techniques. We focus here on tissue classification from color and texture region descriptors computed after unsupervised segmentation. Due to perspective distortions, uncontrolled lighting conditions and view points, wound assessments vary significantly between patient examinations. The main contribution of this paper is to overcome this drawback with a multiview strategy for tissue classification, relying on a 3-D model onto which tissue labels are mapped and classification results merged. The experimental classification tests demonstrate that enhanced repeatability and robustness are obtained and that metric assessment is achieved through real area and volume measurements and wound outline extraction. This innovative tool is intended for use not only in therapeutic follow-up in hospitals but also for telemedicine purposes and clinical research, where repeatability and accuracy of wound assessment are critical.