Noninvasive, rapid, and robust diagnostic techniques for clinical screening of tumors located in arbitrary areas of the human body are in demand. To address this challenge, we analyzed the feasibility of photoplethysmography-based angiography for assessing vascular structures within malignant and benign tumors. The proposed hardware and software were approved in a clinical study involving 30 patients with tumors located in the legs, torso, arms, and head. High-contrast and detailed vessel maps within both benign and malignant tumors were obtained. We demonstrated that capillary maps are consistent and can be interpreted using well-established dermoscopic criteria for vascular morphology. Vessel mapping provides valuable details, which may not be available in dermoscopic images and can aid in determining whether a tumor is benign or malignant. We believe that the proposed approach may become a valuable tool in the preliminary cancer diagnosis and is suitable for large-scale screening.
Keywords: capillary maps; dermoscopy; noninvasive diagnosis; photoplethysmography‐based angiography; skin lesions; tumors; vessels; visualization.
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