Biophysical Basis of Thermometry Limitations to Control COVID-19 are Overcome at Transmissive Skin Overlying Brain-eyelid Thermal Tunnels

Abstract

This a preprint and has not been peer reviewed. Data may be preliminary.

Infrared Imaging of the Brain-Eyelid Thermal Tunnel: A Promising Method for Measuring Body Temperature in Afebrile Children

“…The non-invasive nature of the infrared thermography method makes it suitable for mass screening and monitoring in various settings, such as schools, public transport, and healthcare facilities. Rapid and accurate temperature assessment can help identify potential cases of fever early on, enabling timely isolation, testing, and treatment, thus reducing the risk of disease transmission [8,12]. Additionally, the use of the BTT • method can enhance the precision of fever monitoring in pediatric patients, aiding in the prompt diagnosis and management of infectious diseases, including those with atypical presentations.…”

“…During the 2003 SARS outbreak, the BTT • was identified by a Yale University research group and was described as a thermophysical path providing a metric consistent with the Stefan-Boltzmann law of black body radiance [32]. Some authors have shown that the BTT • provides a consistent volumetric heat capacity, resulting in a more accurate assessment of fever from the hypothalamic thermoregulatory center [12]. This is particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, where suboptimal thermometry may result in the misdiagnosis of children.…”

“…Fever is one of the main objective warning signs for COVID-19 and Kawasaki disease, and parental reliance on it can lead to false negatives or false positives, both of which can have serious consequences. By providing a more accurate measurement of body temperature, the infrared BTT • method has the potential to improve the detection of SARS-CoV-2 infections in children and reduce the risk of misdiagnosis [12]. However, despite the potential of infrared BTT • measurement to detect fever, a recent study has shown that average forehead (T fh,avg ) and eye temperatures above the 37.5 • C fever threshold (T fth ) are not sufficient to detect SARS-CoV-2 infection.…”

“…The surface of the skin overlying the BTT and the superior palpebral vein region is thin dermis (~900 µm) and is fat-free, which results in a lack of thermal insulation. This allows the surface temperature to have a higher intensity infrared emission in this area due to heat transfer from the underlying brain tunnel, thus enabling the assessment of brain temperature [10,12]. An evaluation of this kind is typically conducted by measuring the temperature of the inner canthus of the eye (T ic,eye ), as the brain-eyelid thermal tunnel (BTT • ) overlies the superomedial orbit imaging window [12,13].…”