A Cost-effective Transparency-based Digital Imaging For Efficient And Accurate Wound Area Measurement

Objectives: Wound measurement is an objective and direct way to trace the courseof wound healing and to evaluate therapeutic efficacy. Nevertheless, the accuracy andefficiency of the current measurement methods need to be improved. This study aims toovercome the above technical problems by establishing a novel methodology.Methods: Taking the advantages of reliability of transparency tracing and theaccuracy of computer-aided digital imaging, a transparency-based digital imagingapproach has been established, by which data from340wound tracing are collectedfrom6experimental groups (8rats/group) at8experimental time points (Day1,3,5,7,10,12,14and16) and orderly archived onto single transparency model sheet. Thissheet is then scanned and its image is saved in JPG form. Since a set of standard areaunits from1mm2to1cm2is integrated into the sheet, the tracing areas in JPG image canbe measured directly, using the “Magnetic lasso tool” in Adobe Photoshop program.The pixel values/PVs of individual outlined regions are obtained and recorded in anaverage speed of27second/region. All PV data are saved in an excel form and theircorresponding areas are calculated simultaneously by the formula of Y (PV of theoutlined region) x (PV of standard area unit) x Z (area of standard unit).Results: By the use of this novel method, a researcher uses less than3hours tofinish area calculation of340regions. In contrast, over3hours have to be expended bythree skillful researchers to accomplish the above work with traditionaltransparency-based method. Moreover, unlike the results obtained traditionally, littlevariation is found among the data calculated by different persons (P>0.05) and thestandard area units in different sizes (P>0.05) and shapes (P>0.05).Conclusion: Given its accurate, reproductive and efficient properties, thistransparency-based digital imaging approach shows multiple advantages in wound areameasurement in comparison with the methods so far reported and, therefore, would be of significant values in basic wound healing research and clinical practice.