Imaging spectroscopy of thermal and electrical burs

Today it is still clinical practice to determine burns wounds and their depth by visual inspection. However, it was recently shown that burns develop differently from their initial grade depending on the contact time of the source. As this contact time varies it is difficult to assess the burn severity relaying only on a naked eye. Parameters such as oxygen saturation, hematocrit, water presence, and perfusion, can offer a more quantitative approach to wound assessment hence improving diagnosis and treatment. These parameters can be obtained with spectroscopic and flow sensitive techniques. We propose a study of burns dynamic using a combination of spectroscopic and thermal imaging techniques. A spectral camera based on a lenslet array architecture was used to obtain 18 images of the skin, each lenslet was interfaced with a narrowband filter hence 18 spectrally sensitive images were obtained. In this paper the results of a preliminary electrical burns study are presented.