[Potentials of thermography in the diagnosis and characterization of chronic tonsillitis].

Thermography was done to 131 patients with chronic tonsillitis (simple form in 46, toxico-allergic in 85). The main thermographic sign of this disease is temperature lowered by more than 1 degree C (2.2 degrees C on an average) in the proximal third of the phalanx as compared to that in the dorsal surface of the hand at the level of metacarpophalangeal articulations. Hyperthermia in the shoulder girdle area an in the neck up to the submaxillary line with clear contours is characteristic of patients with the toxico-allergic form of chronic tonsillitis. A thermographic picture in the zone of hyperthermia has the shape of a "collar". Thus thermography makes it possible to distinguish between the main clinical forms of chronic tonsillitis and to specify indications to a therapeutic method.