# Comparative Analysis of Mathematical Models and App-Based Measurement for Estimating the Cutaneous Wound Areas of Captive Asian Elephants

## TL;DR

This study compares smartphone app and math-based methods for measuring wounds on captive Asian elephants and finds both are similarly accurate.

## Contribution

The study introduces a smartphone-based wound measurement method as a non-contact alternative for clinical use in captive Asian elephants.

## Key findings

- No significant difference was found between the five wound area measurement methods tested.
- The smartphone application offers non-contact measurement, addressing welfare concerns in captive Asian elephants.
- Mathematical models and app-based methods showed comparable accuracy in wound area estimation.

## Abstract

Objective

To evaluate the variation in the area estimation under different mathematical calculations against measurement by a smartphone application in estimating the cutaneous wound areas in captive Asian elephants.

Methods

The study was conducted on captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) with cutaneous wounds reported to Veterinary Hospitals of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University and elephant camps within and outside Kerala state (mostly southern states of India, namely, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) over the period September 2019 to October 2022. Thirty-five clinical cases diagnosed with skin wounds of different aetiologies at various parts of the body were subjected to measurement, and 111 measurements were taken using a smartphone application, Imito Measure (Imito AG, Zurich, Switzerland). Based on the outer wound perimeters hand-marked on the mobile screen over the image taken, Imito Measure calculated the length, width, perimeter, and area. The length and width measurements from this were applied to four mathematical models of wound measurements. Wound surface area calculations were further done by these models and were compared.

Results

The observed results indicated no significant difference between the five methods of area measurement in all the studied cases since the P > 0.05.

Conclusion

The findings revealed no significant difference between the five techniques of wound area measurement. From the practical clinical utility point, the smartphone application has an edge over the mathematical methods in animals, especially captive Asian elephants, as it has the major advantage of being non-contact and thus addresses some major welfare concerns.