Semantic segmentation in skin surface microscopic images with artifacts removal.

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Abstract

Skin surface imaging has been used to examine skin lesions with a microscope for over a century and is commonly known as epiluminescence microscopy, dermatoscopy, or dermoscopy. Skin surface microscopy has been recommended to reduce the necessity of biopsy. This imaging technique could improve the clinical diagnostic performance of pigmented skin lesions. Different imaging techniques are employed in dermatology to find diseases. Segmentation and classification are the two main steps in the examination. The classification performance is influenced by the algorithm employed in the segmentation procedure. The most difficult aspect of segmentation is getting rid of the unwanted artifacts. Many deep-learning models are being created to segment skin lesions. In this paper, an analysis of common artifacts is proposed to investigate the segmentation performance of deep learning models with skin surface microscopic images. The most prevalent artifacts in skin images are hair and dark corners. These artifacts can be observed in the majority of dermoscopy images captured through various imaging techniques. While hair detection and removal methods are common, the introduction of dark corner detection and removal represents a novel approach to skin lesion segmentation. A comprehensive analysis of this segmentation performance is assessed using the surface density of artifacts. Assessment of the PH2, ISIC 2017, and ISIC 2018 datasets demonstrates significant enhancements, as reflected by Dice coefficients rising to 93.49 (86.81), 85.86 (79.91), and 75.38 (51.28) respectively, upon artifact removal. These results underscore the pivotal significance of artifact removal techniques in amplifying the efficacy of deep-learning models for skin lesion segmentation.Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.