The Utility of Smartphone-Based Thermal Imaging in the Management and Monitoring of Microvascular Flap Procedures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Smartphone-based thermal imaging (SBTI) has been reported in the literature to be an easy-to-use, contactless, cost-friendly alternative to standard imaging modalities in identifying flap perforators, monitoring flap perfusion, and detecting flap failure. Our systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate SBTI's accuracy in perforator identification and secondarily evaluate SBTI's utility in flap perfusion monitoring as well as ability to predict flap compromise, failure, and survival.

Methods: Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, a systematic review was performed using PubMed from inception to 2021.