Hyperspectral imaging for skin assessment in systemic sclerosis: a pilot study

Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a novel technology for obtaining quantitative measurements from transcutaneous spatial and spectral information. In patients with SSc, the severity of skin tightness is associated with internal organ involvement. However, clinical assessment using the modified Rodnan skin score is highly variable and there are currently no universal standardized protocols. This study aimed to compare the ability to differentiate between SSc patients and healthy controls using skin scores, ultrasound and HSI.

Short-wave infrared light was utilized to detect the spectral angle mapper (SAM) of HSI. In addition, skin severity was evaluated by skin scores, ultrasound to detect dermal thickness and strain elastography. Spearman's correlation was used for assessing skin scores, strain ratio, thickness and SAM. Comparisons of various assessment tools were performed by receiver operating characteristic curves.

In total, 31 SSc patients were enrolled. SAM was positively correlated with skin scores and dermal thickness. In SSc patients with normal skin scores, SAM values were still significantly higher than in healthy controls. SAM exhibited the highest area under the curve (AUC: 0.812, P < 0.001) in detecting SSc compared with skin scores (AUC: 0.712, P < 0.001), thickness (AUC: 0.585, P = 0.009) and strain ratio by elastography (AUC: 0.522, P = 0.510). Moreover, the severity of skin tightness was reflected by the incremental changes of waveforms in the spectral diagrams.

SAM was correlated with skin scores and sufficiently sensitive to detect subclinical disease. HSI can be used as a novel, non-invasive method for assessing skin changes in SSc.