Infrared Thermography and Soft Computing for Diabetic Foot Assessment

Recent advancements in digital image processing and soft computing techniques have widened the scope of computer aided diagnosis of medical conditions. Many imaging modalities like MRI, CT, PET, Ultrasound combined with soft computing techniques is already contributing to this trend. With the recent inclusion of infrared thermal imaging, the capability of computer aided diagnosis has increased and has become more safe and convenient. Research in this noncontact and noninvasive imaging technology has steadily increased over the last 50 years. Disease diagnosis based on the correlation of surface temperature distribution of skin is being studied at large and has shown promising results. This chapter will give the reader a solid understanding of the theory behind infrared thermography and the use of soft computing techniques applied to medical image analysis, particularly for diabetic foot complication assessment. The issues and challenges to be addressed in using infrared thermography for diagnostic purposes are also discussed. The reader will get a complete overview of building an intelligent diagnostic system using the two sensational topics of research in machine learning and medical imaging—infrared thermography and soft computing.