P. Manika, K.M. Patil, V. Balasubramanian, and V.B. Narayanamurthy (India)
Texture characterization, diabetes and foot sole tissue
In diabetic neuropathic subjects, alteration in the properties of the foot sole soft tissue occur due to abnormally high tissue stresses and stress gradients at the skin-fat interface. This paper presents a new noninvasive method to perform characterization of texture changes in foot sole soft tissue ultrasound (US) images as observed to occur with progress of diabetes using wavelet transform. Thus, we can possibly detect the extent of structural changes that occur in case of diabetes in response to abnormal loading conditions of foot sole soft tissue and may signify as early predisposing factors in ulcer formation. US images were acquired by placing a 7.5 MHz linear array scanner, over the dermal-epidermal junction of the soft tissue in parallel to the skin surface. The US images and the foot sole hardness were measured using a Shore meter (in degree Shore) for both normal (30 feet areas) and diabetic subjects (40 feet areas). In this method, features were derived using the discrete wavelet transform in two dimensions for the purpose of texture classification. Apart from good discrimination ability of features, they also bear a strong relationship with the foot sole soft tissue hardness as suggested by high correlation values of the order of 0.85 and above. Thus, different values of features may signify different stages of progress of diabetes and possibly help the clinician in taking appropriate preventive measures.
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