Application of thermography for the assessment of allergen‐induced skin reactions

Abstract

It was demonstrated that the thermographic measurements supplemented by the mathematical model offer a new approach to the quantification of allergen-induced skin reactions. Despite the applied simplifications, the proposed model reflected properly the mechanism of heat generation during skin prick test. Moreover, the continuous recording of the skin temperature represents an additional possibility to investigate the mechanism of the allergic reaction.

Thermographic imaging as alternative method in allergy diagnosis

“…The inter-subject variability of the parameter can be considered as a confirmation that the immediate allergic response is a highly individual-dependent process, but its value can reflect the skin reactivity. Previous studies have confirmed that histamine migration rate is also parameter responsible for the maximal radius of the heated region (correlation coefficient = 0.85) [12,13]. A comparison of the histamine migration rate with age of patients seems to be interesting (Fig.…”

“…The above rigorous analysis is not still satisfying because it does not allow to full explanation of about 10 % misinterpreted cases by SPT method. At this point very useful was the model analysis of thermograms which provides opportunity to determine the migration rate of the basic mediator of allergic reactionhistamine (v) [12,13]. Temporal acquisition of control histamine response allows estimating the migration rate of histamine (v) in the skin (average v = 0.013 ± 0.010 mm/ s, range: (0.007-0.041) mm/s).…”

“…Thermograms were evaluated using the software developed in our laboratories [12]. Briefly, the first step of the analysis relies on the determination of the temperature increase (DT) distributions.…”

“…Recently, a new thermographic (TH) method for the assessment of allergen-induced skin reactions was developed [12,13]. It was demonstrated that the thermographic measurements of forearm temperature distribution during SPT, supported by a mathematical model, offer a new quantification of allergen-induced skin reactions.…”

Evaluation of Skin Reactivity: The concept of Histamine Equivalent Allergen Threshold Concentration (Cha)

“…• estimating the blood flow within and around the wheal area [13], • estimating electrical impedance [14], • using thermography [15], • using digital photography [16], • and carrying out 3-D scanning [17].…”