_version_ 1866913881436192768
author Daems, Rembert
Seys, Sven
Hox, Valérie
Chaker, Adam
De Greve, Glynnis
Lemmens, Winde
Poirrier, Anne-Lise
Beckers, Eline
Diamant, Zuzana
Dierickx, Carmen
Hellings, Peter W.
Huart, Caroline
Jerin, Claudia
Jorissen, Mark
Oscé, Hanne
Roux, Karolien
Thompson, Mark
Tombu, Sophie
Uyttebroek, Saartje
Zarowski, Andrzej
Gorris, Senne
Van Gerven, Laura
Loeckx, Dirk
Demeester, Thomas
author_facet Daems, Rembert
Seys, Sven
Hox, Valérie
Chaker, Adam
De Greve, Glynnis
Lemmens, Winde
Poirrier, Anne-Lise
Beckers, Eline
Diamant, Zuzana
Dierickx, Carmen
Hellings, Peter W.
Huart, Caroline
Jerin, Claudia
Jorissen, Mark
Oscé, Hanne
Roux, Karolien
Thompson, Mark
Tombu, Sophie
Uyttebroek, Saartje
Zarowski, Andrzej
Gorris, Senne
Van Gerven, Laura
Loeckx, Dirk
Demeester, Thomas
contents Background: The skin prick test (SPT) is the gold standard for diagnosing sensitization to inhalant allergies. The Skin Prick Automated Test (SPAT) device was designed for increased consistency in test results, and captures 32 images to be jointly used for allergy wheal detection and delineation, which leads to a diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Using SPAT data from $868$ patients with suspected inhalant allergies, we designed an automated method to detect and delineate wheals on these images. To this end, $10,416$ wheals were manually annotated by drawing detailed polygons along the edges. The unique data-modality of the SPAT device, with $32$ images taken under distinct lighting conditions, requires a custom-made approach. Our proposed method consists of two parts: a neural network component that segments the wheals on the pixel level, followed by an algorithmic and interpretable approach for detecting and delineating the wheals. Results: We evaluate the performance of our method on a hold-out validation set of $217$ patients. As a baseline we use a single conventionally lighted image per SPT as input to our method. Conclusion: Using the $32$ SPAT images under various lighting conditions offers a considerably higher accuracy than a single image in conventional, uniform light.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_05862
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Improved Allergy Wheal Detection for the Skin Prick Automated Test Device
Daems, Rembert
Seys, Sven
Hox, Valérie
Chaker, Adam
De Greve, Glynnis
Lemmens, Winde
Poirrier, Anne-Lise
Beckers, Eline
Diamant, Zuzana
Dierickx, Carmen
Hellings, Peter W.
Huart, Caroline
Jerin, Claudia
Jorissen, Mark
Oscé, Hanne
Roux, Karolien
Thompson, Mark
Tombu, Sophie
Uyttebroek, Saartje
Zarowski, Andrzej
Gorris, Senne
Van Gerven, Laura
Loeckx, Dirk
Demeester, Thomas
Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
Background: The skin prick test (SPT) is the gold standard for diagnosing sensitization to inhalant allergies. The Skin Prick Automated Test (SPAT) device was designed for increased consistency in test results, and captures 32 images to be jointly used for allergy wheal detection and delineation, which leads to a diagnosis. Materials and Methods: Using SPAT data from $868$ patients with suspected inhalant allergies, we designed an automated method to detect and delineate wheals on these images. To this end, $10,416$ wheals were manually annotated by drawing detailed polygons along the edges. The unique data-modality of the SPAT device, with $32$ images taken under distinct lighting conditions, requires a custom-made approach. Our proposed method consists of two parts: a neural network component that segments the wheals on the pixel level, followed by an algorithmic and interpretable approach for detecting and delineating the wheals. Results: We evaluate the performance of our method on a hold-out validation set of $217$ patients. As a baseline we use a single conventionally lighted image per SPT as input to our method. Conclusion: Using the $32$ SPAT images under various lighting conditions offers a considerably higher accuracy than a single image in conventional, uniform light.
title Improved Allergy Wheal Detection for the Skin Prick Automated Test Device
topic Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.05862