Quantitative Estimation of Temperature Variations in Plantar Angiosomes: A Study Case for Diabetic Foot

Abstract

Thermography is a useful tool since it provides information that may help in the diagnostic of several diseases in a noninvasive and fast way. Particularly, thermography has been applied in the study of the diabetic foot. However, most of these studies report only qualitative information making it difficult to measure significant parameters such as temperature variations. These variations are important in the analysis of the diabetic foot since they could bring knowledge, for instance, regarding ulceration risks. The early detection of ulceration risks is considered an important research topic in the medicine field, as its objective is to avoid major complications that might lead to a limb amputation. The absence of symptoms in the early phase of the ulceration is conceived as the main disadvantage to provide an opportune diagnostic in subjects with neuropathy. Since the relation between temperature and ulceration risks is well established in the literature, a methodology that obtains quantitative temperature differences in the plantar area of the diabetic foot to detect ulceration risks is proposed in this work. Such methodology is based on the angiosome concept and image processing.

Unilateral remote temperature monitoring to predict future ulceration for the diabetic foot in remission

“…Additionally, we considered comparisons of temperatures within the same foot. Recent research suggests that foot temperature patterns in diabetic feet (both with36–38 and without18 39 clinical signs of inflammation) coincide with plantar angiosomes, a concept from plastic surgery which segments the body into volumes of tissue vascularized by a common set of arteries. Inflammation due to repetitive stresses on the foot tissue is often isolated to the affected location and surrounding vascular tree.…”

Infrared Thermography and Soft Computing for Diabetic Foot Assessment

“…This helps in studying the healing pattern of the diabetic foot complication to suggest treatment. Peregrina-Barreto et al [20] studied the temperature pattern of diabetic patients and have analyzed the same using angiosome concept. They have divided the entire foot into four regions corresponding to four angiosomes, a concept derived by Nagase et al Estimated temperature difference between the left and right foot was calculated to carry out the analysis.…”

Normal range and lateral symmetry in the skin temperature profile of pregnant women

“…Altered temperature is often the first sign of tissue lesions, before structural or functional changes can be observed [7,10]. Abnormalities such as inflammation and infection cause localized increases in temperature [6,11]. Differences in the surface temperature were verified in breast cancer, with higher values in malignant breast than in normal ones [8].…”