Image-Based Analysis of Human Tissue Regeneration During Therapy Based on Photobiostimulation and Natural Latex Biomembranes

Abstract

Diabetes often results in severe ulceration of lower limbs’ tissues, a condition described as diabetic foot. Recent research has shown that therapy combining photobiostimulation and the use of natural latex biomembranes can significantly improve tissue regeneration and promote healing in otherwise difficult to treat diabetic foot wounds. We propose a method using image processing techniques to supervise wound healing during therapy using photobiostimulation and latex biomembranes. The proposed method analyzes visual aspects related to ulcer’s inflammation and tissues regeneration. The algorithms, implemented in Python, are based on digital filters and post-processing techniques that extract the regions of interest (ROIs) and estimate the total ulcer area and tissues characteristics over the treatment sessions. The experimental results suggest that the method can be used to automatically monitor tissue regeneration during the treatment, which can in the future assist the treatment by providing automatic feedback.