Differences between trunk heat patterns shown by complete and incomplete spinal cord injured veterans

Abstract

SUnlnlaryThermograms showing heat patterns in the trunk of the body were taken of ten intact subjects, seven subjects with incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI), and fifteen subjects diagnosed as having complete SCIs. Fourteen of the subjects with complete SCIs had a thermal demarcation line across the trunk. This line represented a temper ature gradient of one to 2· 5 degrees Celsius between a relatively warm upper level where sensations were normal and a relatively cool lower level in which sensations were either absent or different from pre-injury sensations. The transition zone was narrow and sharp for ten of the complete SCI subjects but was wide and gradual for the other five complete SCI subjects. The shape and width of the thermal transition zone corresponded to the location and degree of abruptness with which sensations changed from normal to abnormal. One of the subjects diagnosed as having a complete SCI failed to show a significant transition zone. The temperature difference between the upper and lower portions of his trunk was less than one degree Celsius. None of the intact or incomplete SCI subjects produced the transition zone. Only one incomplete SCI subject showed even a minimal difference in temperature between the normal sensation and abnormal sensation levels. A panel blind to the subjects' conditions was unable to differentiate between intact and incomplete SCI subjects but was able to sort complete from incomplete SCI subjects in all but the case with an indistinct transition zone.

Relationship between shoulder pain and skin temperature measured by infrared thermography in a wheelchair propulsion test

“…For example, Uematsu et al indicated that calculation of skin temperature asymmetry (DT sk ) is especially effective in evaluating reported pain [6]. Furthermore, Sherman et al [7] determined difference of temperatures in degrees Celsius between the area with normal sensations and the one with no or abnormal sensations in subjects with complete and incomplete SCI, (1.50 ± 0.62°C and 0.58 ± 0.29°C respectively [7]). Thermography measures the emission of infrared radiation and monitors the temperature distribution of human skin.…”

Infrared thermography and shoulder pain in wheelchair users = Termografía infrarroja y dolor de hombro en usuarios de sillas de ruedas

“…-Rehabilitation medicine, pain detection and location of the neurological level of paralysis in individuals with SCI (92,179,180,188,189,340,342,361,362,463,464);…”

“…An example of one such study is that of Sherman et al in which skin temperature was compared between an area with normal sensations and an area without sensation or with abnormal sensations in subjects with complete and incomplete SCI. The differences were 1.5±0.62°C and 0.58±0.29°C for the participants with complete and incomplete SCI, respectively (362). Since some nociceptive and most neuropathic pain pathologies are associated with an alteration of the thermal distribution (173), a more recent study on the assessment of pain through IRT proposed statistical computations and distance measures between comparable regions to assess the degree of asymmetry between contralateral ROIs (165).…”