Data-driven imaging of tissue inflammation using RGB-based hyperspectral reconstruction toward personal monitoring of dermatologic health

Abstract

Sensitive and accurate assessment of dermatologic inflammatory hyperemia in otherwise grossly normal-appearing skin conditions is beneficial to laypeople for monitoring their own skin health on a regular basis, to patients for looking for timely clinical examination, and to primary care physicians or dermatologists for delivering effective treatments. We propose that mathematical hyperspectral reconstruction from RGB images in a simple imaging setup can provide reliable visualization of hemoglobin content in a large skin area. Without relying on a complicated, expensive, and slow hyperspectral imaging system, we demonstrate the feasibility of determining heterogeneous or multifocal areas of inflammatory hyperemia associated with experimental photocarcinogenesis in mice. We envision that RGB-based reconstructed hyperspectral imaging of subclinical inflammatory hyperemic foci could potentially be integrated with the built-in camera (RGB sensor) of a smartphone to develop a simple imaging device that could offer affordable monitoring of dermatologic health.