System and method for optical detection of skin disease

Abstract

An optical system for the detection of skin disease, such as melanoma, acquires images of a lesion on a subject's skin at different wavelengths and utilizes a sweeping arm rotating about the lesion in a clock-like sweep to produce diagnostically relevant metrics and classifiers from the image data so as to enhance detection of the skin disease.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for detecting skin disease in a lesion on a subject's skin, comprising:
 a mechanical fixture having a flat surface to position or press against the subject's skin to define a distal imaging plane containing said lesion;   a camera adapted to obtain image data from light reflected by said distal imaging plane;   a processor adapted to process the image data with a clock-like sweep algorithm to obtain metrics and/or one or more classifiers defining the rotational symmetry of the lesion; and   an output device that indicates a likelihood of the presence or absence of skin disease in the subject from the metrics and/or one or more classifiers.