2D Fourier Fractal Analysis of Optical Coherence Tomography Images of Basal Cell Carcinomas and Melanomas

Abstract

The optical coherence tomography (OCT) technique is applied in the diagnosis of the skin tissue. In general, quantitative imaging features obtained from OCT images have already been used as biomarkers to categorize skin tumors. Particularly, the fractal dimension (FD) could be capable of providing an efficient approach for analyzing OCT images of skin tumors. The 2D Fourier fractal analysis (FFA) as well as the differential box counting method (DBCM) was used in this paper to classify the basal cell carcinomas (BCC), melanomas, and benign melanocytic nevi. Generalized estimating equations were used to test for differences between skin tumors. Our results showed that the significant decrease of the 2D FD was detected in the benign melanocytic nevi and basal cell carcinomas as compared with the melanomas. Our results also suggested that the 2D FFA could provide a more efficient way to calculating FD to differentiate the basal cell carcinomas, melanomas, and benign melanocytic nevi as compared to the 2D DBCM.