VIDEO COMPARATOR FOR ISOLATION OF DERMATOLOGICAL LESIONS

THIS PROJECT WILL RESULT IN DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING OF A MICROCOMPUTER BASED VIDEO IMAGE COMPARATOR FOR USE IN A CLINICAL DERMATO- LOGICAL ENVIRONMENT. THIS DEVICE WILL BE USED BY DERMATOLOGISTS TO EASE THE TASK OF LOCATING NEW OR CHANGED CUTANEOUS LESIONS WHICH MAY POSE A LETHAL THREAT TO THE PATIENT. IN ADDITION TO EASING THE SCREENING TASK IT WILL RESULT IN GREATER UNIFORMITY AND OBJECTIVITY OF PATIENT EXAMINATION. THIS IS A COMPLETELY INNOVATIVE PRODUCT FOR THE CLINICAL ENVIRONMENT WITH CONSIDERABLE COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL. DURING THE PHASE I PROJECT WILL BUILD THE PROTOTYPE VIDEO COMPARATOR WHICH WILL THEN BE SUBJECTED TO A SERIES OF RECEIVER OPERATING CHARACTERISTIC TESTS IN WELL CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS; IT WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE A DEMONSTRATION OF TECHNIQUES FOR FURTHER ENHANCING THE DESIGN, AND IT WILL BE USED IN ACTUAL CLINICAL ENVIRONMENTS TO ESTABLISH ITS EASE OF USE. DEVELOPMENT OF A PRODUCT FROM THIS PROTOTYPE IS QUITE FEASIBLE. THE CONCEPT FOR THIS PROTOTYPE HAS ARISEN FROM A MARKET NEED EXPRESSED BY DERMATOLOGISTS. THE PRODUCT IS SIGNIFICANT IN THAT IT ADDRESSES A MORE EFFECTIVE MEANS OF EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF SERIOUS, POTENTIALLY RAPIDLY EVOLVING LESIONS.