Measuring area and volume of human leg ulcers by coloured coded structured light

The authors present a non-contact semi automatic leg ulcer measurement and management system. Besides measuring the area of an ulcer it can also evaluate its volume by calculating the difference between the virtual reconstruction of the former healthy skin and the actual measured surface. An adequate representation of a real ulcer is created in a Personal Computer memory using a Structured Light scanning system with simultaneously projected stripes of colour coded light. The method is fast and reliable, and capable of evaluating area and volume with an uncertainty of 5% of the total size. Means for ulcer classification, healing time forecast and for patient data management may be included into the system