Pilot study for quantitative evaluation of the mammary gland radiodermatitis by RGB images

Radiodermatitis is an acute skin reaction caused by ionizing radiation. The visual appearance of the lesion is reddish. This phenomenon is known as erythema, and is caused by an increase in blood volume in the subpapillary vascular plexus. Currently, the classification is made qualitatively, where the physician uses the 'RTOG / EORTC Late Radiation Morbidity Scoring Scheme'. There is currently no quantitative method for assessing the degree of injury that is affecting the skin throughout radiotherapy. Our goal is to develop a metric for the evaluation of radiodermatitis through the analysis of conventional digital images and also images acquired with the use of polarizers in patients submitted to treatment of breast radiotherapy. (author)