In vivo spectrophotometric evaluation of neoplastic and non-neoplastic skin pigmented lesions. III. CCD camera-based reflectance imaging.

Reflectance spectroscopy, which allows an objective evaluation of the color of surfaces, has recently been proposed as a useful tool to discriminate cutaneous melanoma from other pigmented cutaneous lesions. A novel spectrophotometric system based on the use of a charge coupled device camera provided with a set of interference filters has been developed to acquire images of cutaneous pigmented lesions at selected wavelengths ranging from 420 to 1040 nm. For each filter, an image was captured, digitized by a frame grabber and stored in a personal computer to perform off-line data handling. Reflectance images were acquired of 22 cutaneous pigmented lesions including melanoma and dysplastic, compound and junctional nevus. From each spectral image, three parameters, i.e. mean reflectance, variegation index and lesion area; were derived at the corresponding wavelength. The wavelength dependence of the three parameters was significantly different when melanoma was compared to the other investigated lesions. Although preliminary, our results suggest that telespectrophotometry gives useful information and could be utilized as an aid in the clinical diagnosis of cutaneous pigmented lesions.