Application of thermography in the diagnostic investigation of thyroid nodules

Abstract

Thyroid nodules (TN) are common in the general population, and the clinical importance of diagnosing thyroid nodules is based on excluding the possibility of thyroid cancer, which occurs in 7-15% of cases. The thyroid gland, owing to its superficial location, is easily accessible via thermography, a noninvasive method of recording body temperature that measures infrared radiation emitted by the body surface. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the temperature differences between benign and malignant TN by using thermography. We conducted a cross-sectional study where 147 TN were divided into two groups: the first group included 120 benign nodules and the other included 27 malignant nodules. All the nodules were subjected to ultrasound, fine needle aspiration biopsy, and thermography. On analyzing the thermography results, the benign nodules had a higher temperature at the beginning of the thermography evaluation, and the malignant nodules showed a higher temperature in the middle and at the end (Ft). Using the relationships, it was observed that the temperature delta (ΔT), ΔT nodule/ΔT healthy, ΔT nodule minus ΔT healthy, and nodule Ft minus Ft of the healthy region were higher in malignant nodules. The ROC curve analysis of ΔT demonstrated a cutoff point of 2.38°C, with a sensitivity of 0.963 and specificity of 0.992. Malignant nodules have higher temperatures than benign nodules on thermographic evaluation. This finding suggests that thermography can be a useful tool in the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.

Infrared thermography for normal endothelial function screening

“…33,34 Thermography has already been included in the evaluation of vascular pathologies. In a study of thermography for thyroid nodules, Damião et al 35 found that malignant nodules have higher temperatures than their benign counterparts (33.46 °C vs. 33.01 °C). In a paper by Cruz Segura et al, 16 the usefulness of thermography was demonstrated given that the temperature obtained from obstructed vessels after microsurgical reconstruction with flaps was 31.95 °C on average, in comparison with 34.80 °C in unobstructed vessels.…”

Potential Use of Novel Image and Signal Processing Methods to Develop a Quantitative Assessment of the Severity of Acute Radiation Dermatitis in Breast Cancer Radiotherapy

“… 29–31 It is used to diagnose pneumonia and also supports diagnosing thyroid diseases. 32 In cardiology, it can be used to monitor the circulation or heart during cardiac surgery, while in allergology, it supports diagnosing respiratory and food allergies. 33–35 It was also found that a thermal imaging analysis can be an effective tool for diagnosing peripheral vascular disorders.…”

Thermography as a Non-Ionizing Quantitative Tool for Diagnosing Burning Mouth Syndrome: Case-Control Study

“…The rationale for the use of IRT in biomedicine is that changes in body temperature may be indicative of the existence of disease conditions. Such temperature changes are related to the inflammation produced by the disease, and can be detected and recorded with a thermographic camera [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Thermal (infrared) imaging offers a number of advantages: it is noninvasive, involves no physical contact with the measured surface, and affords images that can be filed and processed to evaluate neurological disorders (e.g., spinal cord and peripheral nerve damage), vascular diseases (e.g., Raynaud’s disease) and bone and joint disorders (e.g., myofascial pain syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and sports injuries).…”