Handheld 3D Scanning System for In-Vivo Imaging of Skin Cancer

We present a handheld scanning system for measuring in-vivo the 3D topography of the human skin surface. The system has been envisaged for analyzing the 3D shape of skin cancer lesions, providing a more precise characterization of the lesions compared with the conventional examination done by using the naked eye and dermoscopy methods. The 3D scanning system is composed of cost-effective and commercially available components, including two monochrome cameras placed in a stereo configuration, a color camera, and a compact projector unit. The 3D measuring principle is based on the technique of stereovision combined with the projection of structured light patterns. A first scanning prototype has been recently developed for imaging skin surface areas of 19 x 14 mm 2 . A graphical user interface (GUI) has been also implemented to operate with the prototype. Preliminary experimental results showing the performance of this initial prototype for imaging different skin surface zones are also presented.