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Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques

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A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Imaging and Theranostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 50045

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Norbert Kiss

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Guest Editor

Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: dermatology; skin cancer; imaging; multiphoton microscopy; high-frequency ultrasound
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Norbert Miklós Wikonkál

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: dermatology; non-melanoma skin cancer; psoriasis; imaging; photocarcinogenesis; photobiology

Dr. Márta Medvecz

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Dermatooncology, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
Interests: dermatology; genodermatoses; rare skin disorders; imaging; pseudoxanthoma elasticum; Ehlers–Danlos syndromes; ichthyoses; dermoscopy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to invite you to contribute original research articles, reviews, short communications, case reports and interesting images to be published in the Special Issue entitled “Advances in Non-invasive Skin imaging Techniques” in the journal Diagnostics, which is now open for submissions.

In recent decades, several novel non-invasive skin imaging techniques emerged, which have been increasingly used for research and also in clinical practice. Among others, these include dermoscopy, high-frequency ultrasound, multispectral imaging, optical coherence tomography, reflectance confocal microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. This Special Issue will present up-to-date findings on the use of these modalities in basic and translational research, and also in the diagnostics, follow-up and therapy monitoring of various skin disorders and skin cancer. Reports on technological advances and also on the application of artificial intelligence, image processing and image analysis for the evaluation of skin imaging data are also welcome.

Dr. Norbert Kiss
Prof. Dr. Norbert Miklós Wikonkál
Dr. Márta Medvecz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

dermatology
imaging
skin cancer
dermoscopy
high-frequency ultrasound
multispectral imaging
optical coherence tomography
reflectance confocal microscopy
multiphoton microscopy
computed tomography
magnetic resonance imaging
artificial intelligence
image analysis

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 8893 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Cross-Sectional Study of the Dermatological Manifestations of Patients with Fabry Disease and the Assessment of Angiokeratomas with Multimodal Imaging

by Pálma Anker, Luca Fésűs, Norbert Kiss, Anna Lengyel, Éva Pinti, Ilze Lihacova, Alexey Lihachev, Emilija Vija Plorina, György Fekete and Márta Medvecz

Diagnostics 2023, 13(14), 2368; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13142368 - 14 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2089

Abstract

Fabry disease (FD) is a multisystemic X-linked lysosomal storage disease that presents with angiokeratomas (AKs). Our objective was to investigate the clinical and morphologic features of AKs and to present two experimental techniques, multispectral imaging (MSI) and non-linear microscopy (NLM). A thorough dermatological examination was carried out in our 26 FD patients and dermoscopic images (n = 136) were evaluated for specific structures. MSI was used for the evaluation of AKs in seven patients. NLM was carried out to obtain histology samples of two AKs and two hemangiomas. Although AKs were the most common manifestation, the majority of patients presented an atypical distribution and appearance, which could cause a diagnostic challenge. Dermoscopy revealed lacunae (65%) and dotted vessels (56%) as the most common structures, with a whitish veil present in only 25%. Autofluorescence (405 nm) and diffuse reflectance (526 nm) images showed the underlying vasculature more prominently compared to dermoscopy. Using NLM, AKs and hemangiomas could be distinguished based on morphologic features. The clinical heterogeneity of FD can result in a diagnostic delay. Although AKs are often the first sign of FD, their presentation is diverse. A thorough dermatological examination and the evaluation of other cutaneous signs are essential for the early diagnosis of FD. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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9 pages, 1295 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Super-High Magnification Dermoscopy in 190 Clinically Atypical Pigmented Lesions

by Elisa Cinotti, Vittoria Cioppa, Linda Tognetti, Jean Luc Perrot, Renato Rossi, Matteo Gnone, Alessandra Cartocci, Pietro Rubegni and Giulio Cortonesi

Diagnostics 2023, 13(13), 2238; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13132238 - 30 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1098

Abstract

Super-high (×400) magnification dermoscopy (D400) is a new non-invasive imaging technique that has been shown to add information for the differential diagnosis of melanocytic lesions in a pilot study. Our study aimed to confirm if D400 can add details for the discrimination of clinically atypical nevus and melanoma. This is a retrospective observational, multicentric study enrolling patients who received ×20 (D20) and ×400 (D400) magnification dermoscopic examinations of pigmented skin lesions. Dermoscopic images were retrospectively evaluated by three observers for the presence/absence of nine D20 and twenty D400 dermoscopic features defined in the previous pilot study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to find predictors of benign and malignant behaviors. At D20, an atypical pigment network, blue-whitish veil, atypical vascular pattern, regression, and homogenous pattern were more frequent in melanoma than in nevi (p < 0.001). At D400, melanoma showed more frequently than benign lesions, melanocytes with an irregular arrangement and irregular in shape and size (p < 0.001). A network with edged papillae was more frequent in benign lesions than melanomas (p < 0.001). Our study confirms that D400 can identify melanocytes with an irregular arrangement, and irregularities in shape and size in melanomas, adding information to the conventional D20 examination. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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13 pages, 16597 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Deep-Learning-Based Morphological Feature Segmentation for Facial Skin Image Analysis

by Huisu Yoon, Semin Kim, Jongha Lee and Sangwook Yoo

Diagnostics 2023, 13(11), 1894; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13111894 - 29 May 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2311

Abstract

Facial skin analysis has attracted considerable attention in the skin health domain. The results of facial skin analysis can be used to provide skin care and cosmetic recommendations in aesthetic dermatology. Because of the existence of several skin features, grouping similar features and processing them together can improve skin analysis. In this study, a deep-learning-based method of simultaneous segmentation of wrinkles and pores is proposed. Unlike color-based skin analysis, this method is based on the analysis of the morphological structures of the skin. Although multiclass segmentation is widely used in computer vision, this segmentation was first used in facial skin analysis. The architecture of the model is U-Net, which has an encoder–decoder structure. We added two types of attention schemes to the network to focus on important areas. Attention in deep learning refers to the process by which a neural network focuses on specific parts of its input to improve its performance. Second, a method to enhance the learning capability of positional information is added to the network based on the fact that the locations of wrinkles and pores are fixed. Finally, a novel ground truth generation scheme suitable for the resolution of each skin feature (wrinkle and pore) was proposed. The experimental results revealed that the proposed unified method achieved excellent localization of wrinkles and pores and outperformed both conventional image-processing-based approaches and one of the recent successful deep-learning-based approaches. The proposed method should be expanded to applications such as age estimation and the prediction of potential diseases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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14 pages, 4504 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Serial Dependence in Dermatological Judgments

by Zhihang Ren, Xinyu Li, Dana Pietralla, Mauro Manassi and David Whitney

Diagnostics 2023, 13(10), 1775; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13101775 - 17 May 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1192

Abstract

Serial Dependence is a ubiquitous visual phenomenon in which sequentially viewed images appear more similar than they actually are, thus facilitating an efficient and stable perceptual experience in human observers. Although serial dependence is adaptive and beneficial in the naturally autocorrelated visual world, a smoothing perceptual experience, it might turn maladaptive in artificial circumstances, such as medical image perception tasks, where visual stimuli are randomly sequenced. Here, we analyzed 758,139 skin cancer diagnostic records from an online app, and we quantified the semantic similarity between sequential dermatology images using a computer vision model as well as human raters. We then tested whether serial dependence in perception occurs in dermatological judgments as a function of image similarity. We found significant serial dependence in perceptual discrimination judgments of lesion malignancy. Moreover, the serial dependence was tuned to the similarity in the images, and it decayed over time. The results indicate that relatively realistic store-and-forward dermatology judgments may be biased by serial dependence. These findings help in understanding one potential source of systematic bias and errors in medical image perception tasks and hint at useful approaches that could alleviate the errors due to serial dependence. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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13 pages, 4474 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Differentiating Fordyce Spots from Their Common Simulators Using Ultraviolet-Induced Fluorescence Dermatoscopy—Retrospective Study

by Paweł Pietkiewicz, Cristian Navarrete-Dechent, Mohamad Goldust, Katarzyna Korecka, Verce Todorovska and Enzo Errichetti

Diagnostics 2023, 13(5), 985; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13050985 - 04 Mar 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 39161

Abstract

Fordyce spots (FS) are heterotopic sebaceous glands affecting mostly oral and genital mucosa, commonly misdiagnosed with sexually transmitted infections. In a single-center retrospective study, we aimed to assess the ultraviolet-induced fluorescencedermatoscopy (UVFD) clues of Fordyce spots and their common clinical simulants: molluscum contagiosum, penile pearly papules, human papillomavirus warts, genital lichen planus, and genital porokeratosis. Analyzed documentation included patients’ medical records (1 September–30 October 2022) and photodocumentation, which included clinical images as well as polarized, non-polarized, and UVFD images. Twelve FS patients were included in the study group and fourteen patients in the control group. A novel and seemingly specific UVFD pattern of FS was described: regularly distributed bright dots over yellowish-greenish clods. Even though, in the majority of instances, the diagnosis of FS does not require more than naked eye examination, UVFD is a fast, easy-to-apply, and low-cost modality that can further increase the diagnostic confidence and rule out selected infectious and non-infectious differential diagnoses if added to conventional dermatoscopic diagnosis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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Review

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13 pages, 6811 KiB

Open AccessReview

Microvascular Alteration in COVID-19 Documented by Nailfold Capillaroscopy

by Lucrezia Mondini, Paola Confalonieri, Riccardo Pozzan, Luca Ruggero, Liliana Trotta, Selene Lerda, Michael Hughes, Mattia Bellan, Marco Confalonieri, Barbara Ruaro, Francesco Salton and Stefano Tavano

Diagnostics 2023, 13(11), 1905; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13111905 - 29 May 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3019

Abstract

COVID-19 is a multisystemic disease that mainly affects and causes dysregulation of the endothelium, causing systemic manifestations. A nailfold video capillaroscopy is a safe, easy, and noninvasive method to evaluate microcirculation alteration. In this review, we analyzed the literature available to date regarding the object of nailfold video capillaroscopy (NVC) use in patients with a SARS-CoV-2 infection, both in the acute phase and after discharge. The scientific evidence pointed out the main alterations in capillary circulation shown by NVC, so reviewing the findings of each article allowed us to define and analyze the future prospects and needs for possibly including NVC within the management of patients with COVID-19, both during and after the acute phase. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Non-invasive Skin Imaging Techniques)

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