Independent component analysis for assessing therapeutic response in vitiligo skin disorder

This paper describes an image analysis technique that objectively measures skin repigmentation for the assessment of therapeutic response in vitiligo treatments. Skin pigment disorders due to the abnormality of melanin production, such as vitiligo, cause irregular pale patches of skin. The therapeutic response to treatment is repigmentation of the skin. However the repigmentation process is very slow and is only observable after a few months of treatment. Currently, there is no objective method to assess the therapeutic response of skin pigment disorder treatment, particularly for vitiligo treatment. In this work, we apply principal component analysis followed by independent component analysis to represent digital skin images in terms of melanin and haemoglobin composition respectively. Vitiligo skin areas are identified as skin areas that lack melanin (non-melanin areas). Results obtained using the technique have been verified by dermatologists. Based on 20 patients, the proposed technique effectively monitored the progression of repigmentation over a shorter time period of six weeks and can thus be used to evaluate treatment efficacy objectively and more effectively. © 2009 Informa Healthcare USA, Inc.