Bodymap: an image processing system for the measurement of body surface profiles encountered in skin expansion surgery.

A personal computer based image processing system for the mapping and subsequent analysis of local areas of the human body requiring no more than 180 degrees of vision is described. The operations of image capture and data extraction are undertaken in real time and photogrammetric reconstruction takes typically a further 30 s. Accuracy of the system has been assessed by photogrammetrically reconstructing 37 points whose coordinates had been precisely established by traditional survey techniques. An average discrepancy between surveyed and reconstructed positions of 0.485 mm was obtained; this level of accuracy compares highly favourably with results achieved using alternative methods and which do not have the level of automation inherent in the described system. The system has been developed specifically to provide quantitative values for parameters of particular interest in skin expansion surgery: consequently the post-reconstruction facilities available in this initial system are surface area and enclosed volume calculations and shaded surface display. Further development work currently in progress is also briefly discussed.