Imaging system and method for assessing wounds

A method for determining a course of healing of a tissue injury, comprising:

• a) receiving a thermal image of a target wound area;
• b) digitally processing said thermal image to create an isotherm map comprising a plurality of isotherms, said plurality of isotherms defining a region of interest of said target wound area, wherein said digitally processing said thermal image comprises:
• converting said thermal image to a greyscale image;
• down-converting a bit depth of said greyscale image;
• applying a Gaussian Blur filter to said down-sampled image;
• and
• assigning a contour level value correlated to a measured temperature value of said isotherm and optionally assigning a visual identifier to each isotherm;
• c) determining a depth measurement, an elevation measurement, or both of said target wound area by measuring a gradient between at least two adjacent isotherms of said isotherm map representing a physiological depth or elevation of said target wound area;
• d) receiving a second, different and subsequent thermal image of said target wound area;
• e) repeating steps b) and c) with respect to said second thermal image;
• f) determining a course of healing by comparing differences between the determined depth or elevation of said target wound area of said first and said second thermal images;
• and
• g) transmitting the result of said determining step f) to an output register.

A method for determining a course of healing of an ulcerative state in a living being, comprising:

• selecting a target wound area comprising an ulcer;
• obtaining a thermal image of said target wound area and deriving an isotherm map of said target wound area therefrom;
• identifying one or more regions of interest within said thermal map of said target wound area;
• determining a gradient or slope corresponding to a physiological depth or elevation of said ulcer by measuring a spacing between at least two adjacent isotherm lines within said thermal map and deriving a physiological depth or elevation of said target wound area therefrom;
• comparing said derived physiological ulcer depth of said target wound area at least twice, with an intervening time period of at least 24 hours therebetween;
• wherein a course of wound healing is represented by:
• a shallowing of said ulcer depth or an elevation of granulation equal to, or into the periwound area;
• and
• wherein a course of delayed wound healing is represented by a tunneling of said ulcer.