Wound assessment by 3-dimensional laser scanning [2]

Recent advances in our understanding of the biology of cutaneous tissue repair have influenced current therapeutic strategies for chronic wound management and will continue to influence chronic wound management strategies into the future.1 An effective and accurate monitoring of skin lesions should be performed by measuring in an objective, precise, and reproducible way the complete status and evolution of the wound.2 The main goal of current research projects is to design an easy-to-use technological system that can monitor the qualitative and quantitative evolution of a skin lesion. This level of monitoring can be achieved by using 3-dimensional scanners: in particular, systems based on active optical approaches.3 There are 2 different areas of potential applications of such types of devices: in medical treatment (to improve the efficacy of therapeutic regimens) 4 and pharmacologic scientific research (to assess the quality and effectiveness of new chemicals or clinical procedures).