Quantifying Dermatology: Method and Device for User-Independent Ultrasound Measurement of Skin Thickness

A device and technique to acquire and construct 3D ultrasound volumes of the skin of the hand and arm were developed. The Repeated Skin Thickness Measurement (RSTM) Device moves a high frequency ultrasound probe linearly in 3 axes in a water tank and images a submerged arm. These images are combined into an ultrasound volume, the skin layer segmented, and the thickness extracted. One particular application is measuring progression of scleroderma, a skin thickening disease. The current ultrasound-based scleroderma diagnostic processes assess skin thickness based on a single ultrasound image taken by a clinician holding the ultrasound probe, resulting in low measurement repeatability. The imagery that results from the instrumentation and analysis presented here can be used to create quantitative maps of skin thickness, to monitor the progression of skin-thickening diseases, and to observe the structures of tendons, ligaments, and the other soft tissue of the hand.