Quali-quantitative analysis in the spectrophotometric diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma

This article presents a set of software tools which are used in conjunction with spectrophotometric technology to support the quali-quantitative analys is of pigmented lesions and their classification as either benign or malignant on the basis of their dominant spectral features. The software components interact with their hardware counterparts to acquire, reduce and analys e spectral images of the lesion directly from the p atient's skin. While the system is not intended to replace t he specialist's judgment in the diagnosis of melano ma, there is an indication that clearly negative cases can be di scriminated against unclear cases requiring further investigation.