Automatic Detection of Globules, Streaks and Pigment Network Based on Texture and Color Analysis in Dermoscopic Images

Melanoma diagnosis in early stages is a difficult task, which requires highly qualified and trained staff. Therefore, a computer aided diagnosis tool to assist non-specialized physicians in the assessment of pigmented lesions would be desirable. In this paper a method to detect streaks, globules and pigment network, which are very important features to evaluate the malignancy of a lesion, is presented. The algorithm calculates the texton histograms of color and texture features extracted from a filter bank, that feed a Support Vector Machine. The method has been tested with 176 images attaining an accuracy of 80%, outperfoming the benchmark techniques used as comparison.