A reappraisal of the use of infrared thermal image analysis in medicine

Abstract

Infrared thermal imaging of the skin has been used for several decades to monitor the temperature distribution of human skin. Abnormalities such as malignancies, inflammation, and infection cause localized increases in temperature which show as hot spots or as asymmetrical patterns in an infrared thermogram. Even though it is nonspecific, infrared thermology is a powerful detector of problems that affect a patient's physiology. While the use of infrared imaging is increasing in many industrial and security applications, it has declined in medicine probably because of the continued reliance on first generation cameras. The transfer of military technology for medical use has prompted this reappraisal of infrared thermology in medicine. Digital infrared cameras have much improved spatial and thermal resolutions, and libraries of image processing routines are available to analyze images captured both statically and dynamically. If thermographs are captured under controlled conditions, they may be interpreted readily to diagnose certain conditions and to monitor the reaction of a patient's physiology to thermal and other stresses. Some of the major areas where infrared thermography is being used successfully are neurology, vascular disorders, rheumatic diseases, tissue viability, oncology (especially breast cancer), dermatological disorders, neonatal, ophthalmology, and surgery.

A Computer Tool for the Fusion and Visualization of Thermal and Magnetic Resonance Images

“…The medical use of thermography is not new, but only recently, with the improved sensitivity (around 0.02°C) of the new generation of infrared sensors, it starts to appear as a safe, efficient, and reliable method for the study of some human pathologies. [1][2][3] The main advantages of thermography as an auxiliary tool in medical diagnosis include its relatively low cost and, more importantly, the fact that it is an essentially noninvasive and completely harmless technique (thermography makes use of the infrared thermal radiation emitted by the body). Nonetheless, this technique has some limitations and thus it is still not used systematically for clinical diagnosis worldwide.…”

“…[1][2][3][4] In the particular case of peripheral vascular disease (PVD)-a disease that compromises blood supply to inferior limbs-DITI is used to evaluate the extent of the damage to the limb. 5 PVD is characterized by constriction or occlusion of the main arteries that supply blood to the limbs.…”

Early evaluation of characteristic metabolic heat patterns, registered by infrared imagenology

“…Nowadays the degree of stability in the regulation of the body's temperature is used as a parameter of health. The monitoring, grading and measuring of features in these images are subjects of intense research in the Medical Infrared Imaging (MIRI) field [2,3,4]. Here we report early results from a trial study of thermography in the 8-14 µm emission spectral range.…”

In vivo thermography during small bowel fusion using radiofrequency energy

“…10 The emissivity is the ratio of the amount of energy an object absorbs and re-radiates compared to that of a black body which does not radiate any infrared energy. 11 Hence, objects of the same temperature but different emissivities appear to have different temperatures with a thermal camera. However, this can be corrected with analysis software.…”