A. Schwaighofer, V. Tresp, P. Mayer, A. Scheel, M. Reuss-Borst,
A. Krause, I. Mesecke-von Rheinbaben, and H. Rost
We describe a novel system for the examination of patients suffering from
rheumatoid arthritis. Basis of this system is a laser imaging technique which
is sensitive to the optical characteristics of finger joint tissue. From the
laser images acquired at baseline and followup, finger joints can
automatically be classified according to whether the inflammatory status has
improved or worsened. To perform the classification task, various linear and
kernel-based systems were implemented and their performances were compared.
From the results presented in this paper, we concluded that the laser-based
imaging permits a reliable classification of pathological finger joints,
making it a sensitive method for detecting arthritic changes.