Simulation study of melanoma detection in human skin tissues by laser-generated surface acoustic waves

Abstract

Air pollution has been correlated to an increasing number of cases of human skin diseases in recent years. However, the investigation of human skin tissues has received only limited attention, to the point that there are not yet satisfactory modern detection technologies to accurately, noninvasively, and rapidly diagnose human skin at epidermis and dermis levels. In order to detect and analyze severe skin diseases such as melanoma, a finite element method (FEM) simulation study of the application of the laser-generated surface acoustic wave (LSAW) technique is developed. A three-layer human skin model is built, where LSAW's are generated and propagated, and their effects in the skin medium with melanoma are analyzed. Frequency domain analysis is used as a main tool to investigate such issues as minimum detectable size of melanoma, filtering spectra from noise and from computational irregularities, as well as on how the FEM model meshing size and computational capabilities influence the accuracy of the results. Based on the aforementioned aspects, the analysis of the signals under the scrutiny of the phase velocity dispersion curve is verified to be a reliable, a sensitive, and a promising approach for detecting and characterizing melanoma in human skin. © The Authors.