Infrared Thermography Sensor for Disease Activity Detection in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Abstract

A recent review of thermography studies in rheumatoid arthritis shows limited data about disease activity and mostly focuses on differences between the thermography of rheumatoid arthritis patients and typical subjects. A retrospective study compared patients with high disease activity (n = 50), moderate disease activity (n = 16), and healthy participants (n = 42), taking into account demographic, clinical, laboratory, and thermography parameters. We applied an infrared thermography sensor and a fingers examination protocol. Outcomes included the mean temperature of five fingers of a hand: In static, post-cooling, post-rewarming, the total change in mean temperature of fingers due to cold provocation, the total change in mean temperature of fingers due to rewarming, the area under the cooling curve, the area under the heating curve, the difference between the area under the rewarming and the cooling curve, and temperature intensity distribution maps. For patients with high disease activity, a lower area under the heating curve and a lower difference between the area under the rewarming curve and the cooling curve were observed, as well as a smaller total change in mean temperature due to rewarming, compared to patients with moderate disease activity (p < 0.05). Our study findings could be helpful in patients with an equivocal clinical examination.

Detection of inflammation from finger temperature profile in rheumatoid arthritis

“…Snekhalatha et al [30] examined hand temperature distribution of RA patients and healthy people and used k-means segmentation algorithms to quantify inflammatory lesions. In [35], Pauk et al discriminated patients with moderate and high disease activity based on DAS28 [35]. Ring [36] studied Raynaud's phenomenon; the ring determined the differences between specific areas.…”

Development of Rheumatoid Arthritis Classification from Electronic Image Sensor Using Ensemble Method

“…The various types of sensors are used to acquire data to diagnose RA disease are shown in Figure 2. The authors of previous research [5,6] have used thermal infrared camera (TIR) imaging system as a sensor to diagnose RA. This non-invasive thermal imaging instrument has demonstrated the ability in the assessment and diagnosis of RA.…”

“…A characteristic of RA is inflammation in the articulations affected, which can easily be seen by thermal imaging, but not by the naked eye, as the temperature rises automatically around those articulations. The two authors [5,6] used TIR sensor for different parts of the body. From [5], the author used TIR sensor to acquire image analysis of the elbows, wrist and hand joints, knees, ankles and feet joints.…”

“…This system will accurately quantify patients accurately in grades, maximum and minimum joint range, flexure, extension, and abduction of the finger or thumb joints, and compares the joint range of the normal ROM values in order to detect the deformity of the hand and rigidity of moveable finger joint. The authors of previous research [5,6] have used thermal infrared camera (TIR) imaging system as a sensor to diagnose RA. This non-invasive thermal imaging instrument has demonstrated the ability in the assessment and diagnosis of RA.…”

Performance Assessment of Low-Cost Thermal Cameras for Medical Applications

“…Thermal imaging provides temperature functional observation as well as tissue structural thermal properties [6]. Applications based on thermography have been proposed for the monitoring and assessment of a diverse range of pathologies including dermatological complications, tumors, diabetic neuropathy, arthritis, vascular disorders, and other circulatory disturbances such as Raynaud's phenomenon [7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Furthermore, several applications have employed active thermography in which temperature is measured in dynamic states resulting from thermal provocation (heating or cooling) [14][15][16].…”