Spectrometer system for diagnosis of skin disease

A method for diagnosis of a disease selected from the group consisting of actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma, compound nevus and spider angioma at a skin disease site using spectral analysis comprising the steps of:

• illuminating the disease site with a light source to generate fluorescence and reflectance light at the disease site;
• collecting the generated fluorescence and reflectance light;
• conducting a spectral analysis of the collected light using a spectrometer;
• determining spectral measurements of the fluorescence light and the reflectance light;
• examining the spectral measurements together to make a diagnosis of the disease site, wherein the step of examining comprises comparing the spectral measurements with known spectral measurements and wherein if the reflectance curve slope is similar to normal and the fluorescence intensity is higher than normal, then determining that the disease is actinic keratosis;
• if the reflectance curve slope is similar to normal and the fluorescence intensity is lower than normal, then determining that the disease is basal cell carcinoma;
• if the reflectance curve slope is larger than normal and the fluorescence intensity is higher than normal, then determining that the disease is seborrheic keratosis;
• and, if the reflectance curve slope is larger than normal and the fluorescence intensity is lower than normal, then determining that the disease is compound nevus;
• and,
• displaying the diagnosis.

A combination able to diagnose a disease selected from the group consisting of actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma and compound nevus at a skin disease site using spectral analysis comprising:

• a light source for generating light to illuminate the disease site;
• an optical probe optically connected to the light source to expose the disease site to light to generate fluorescence and reflectance light;
• a spectral analyzer optically connected to the optical probe for generating and displaying spectral measurements of the fluorescence light and the reflectance light to assist the user in diagnosing the disease site;
• a plurality of comparison spectra corresponding to, and able to distinguish between, each of actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma and compound nevus, wherein the spectra indicate that if the reflectance curve slope is similar to normal and the fluorescence intensity is higher than normal, then the disease is actinic keratosis;
• if the reflectance curve slope is similar to normal and the fluorescence intensity is lower than normal, then the disease is basal cell carcinoma;
• if the reflectance curve slope is larger than normal and the fluorescence intensity is higher than normal, then the disease is seborrheic keratosis;
• and, if the reflectance curve slope is larger than normal and the fluorescence intensity is lower than normal, then the disease is compound nevus;
• and
• a display indicating the presence or absence at the skin disease site, of actinic keratosis, seborrheic keratosis, basal cell carcinoma or compound nevus at the skin disease site.