Standardising and assessing digital images for use in clinical trials: a practical, reproducible method that blinds the assessor to treatment allocation

Asha C Bowen; Kara Burns; Steven Y C Tong; Ross M Andrews; Robyn Liddle; Irene M O'Meara; Darren W Westphal; Jonathan R Carapetis

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110395

Standardising and assessing digital images for use in clinical trials: a practical, reproducible method that blinds the assessor to treatment allocation

PLoS One. 2014 Nov 6;9(11):e110395. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110395. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Asha C Bowen¹, Kara Burns², Steven Y C Tong³, Ross M Andrews⁴, Robyn Liddle⁴, Irene M O'Meara⁴, Darren W Westphal⁵, Jonathan R Carapetis⁶

Affiliations

¹ Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia; Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia; Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA, Australia.
² Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT, Australia; School of Business, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
³ Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia; Royal Darwin Hospital, Darwin, NT, Australia.
⁴ Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia.
⁵ Menzies School of Health Research, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, NT, Australia; Telethon Kids Institute for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
⁶ Telethon Kids Institute for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia; Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth, WA, Australia.

Abstract

With the increasing availability of high quality digital cameras that are easily operated by the non-professional photographer, the utility of using digital images to assess endpoints in clinical research of skin lesions has growing acceptance. However, rigorous protocols and description of experiences for digital image collection and assessment are not readily available, particularly for research conducted in remote settings. We describe the development and evaluation of a protocol for digital image collection by the non-professional photographer in a remote setting research trial, together with a novel methodology for assessment of clinical outcomes by an expert panel blinded to treatment allocation.

Publication types

Evaluation Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Humans
Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / standards*
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / standards*
Impetigo / pathology
Skin Diseases / pathology*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia project grant (545234) for which AB, ST, RA and JC are all investigators and IMO is funded as the trial project manager. AB is the recipient of an NHMRC scholarship for PhD research (605845) and an Australian Academy of Sciences Douglas and Lola Douglas scholarship. ST is the recipient of a NHMRC Career Development Fellowship (1065736). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.