Characteristic Features of Infrared Thermographic Imaging in Primary Raynaud's Phenomenon.

Diagnostics (Basel)

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital, Herlev Hospital, Borgmester Ib Juuls Vej 1, 2730 Herlev, Denmark.

Published: March 2021

Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) is characterized by the episodic whitening of the fingers upon exposure to cold. Verification of the condition is crucial in vibration-exposed patients. The current verification method is outdated, but thermographic imaging seems promising as a diagnostic replacement. By investigating patients diagnosed with RP, the study aimed at developing a simple thermographic procedure that could be applied to future patients where verification of the diagnosis is needed. Twenty-two patients with primary RP and 58 healthy controls were examined using thermographic imaging after local cooling of the hands for 1 min in water of 10°C. A logistic regression model was fitted with the temperature curve characteristics to convey a predicted probability of having RP. The characteristics time to end temperature and baseline temperature were the most appropriate predictors of RP among those examined ( = 0.004 and = 0.04, respectively). The area under the curve was 0.91. The cut-off level 0.46 yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 82% and 86%, respectively. The positive and negative predictive values were 69% and 93%, respectively. This newly developed thermographic method was able to distinguish between patients with RP and healthy controls and was easy to operate. Thus, the method showed great promise as a method for verification of RP in future patients. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03094910.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8003729PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030558DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

thermographic imaging
12
raynaud's phenomenon
8
future patients
8
healthy controls
8
patients
6
thermographic
5
characteristic features
4
features infrared
4
infrared thermographic
4
imaging primary
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!