Reliability of infrared image analysis based on anatomical landmarks

The use of infrared thermography for the dynamic measurement of skin temperature of moving athletes during competition; methodological issues

“…The importance of the selection of ROIs should not be underestimated, as it has been shown to influence the reliability of studies (Ring and Ammer, 2015). A number of protocols aiming to standardise ROI selection have been proposed, such as the Glamorgan protocol (Ammer, 2008), the use of anatomical landmarks or instrumenting participants with markers (Seixas et al, 2020), the use of automated standardised analysis, such as the hottest pixel and the surrounding 24 (Ludwig et al, 2014) or the hottest 5 pixels (Formenti et al, 2017). However, both protocols of Ludwig et al (2014) and Formenti et al (2017), create a bias towards analysing the hottest area and lose a high amount of information from the thermogram, negating the benefit of measuring a large skin surface area.…”