Is the temporal artery thermometer a reliable instrument for detecting fever in children?

Abstract

We do not recommend replacement of standard clinical thermometers with temporal artery thermometers.

Temperature measurement in the adult emergency department: oral, tympanic membrane and temporal artery temperatures versus rectal temperature

“…The sensitivity of a TM temperature ≥38°C from a recent study of 457 adult ED patients was 74%1 and 58% in 103 hospitalised patients 20. Sensitivities of a cutpoint of 38°C on TA thermometers from three large studies of children were 68%,21 70%22 and 81% 15. Dybwik et al 23 found a TA temperature of 38°C to have a markedly low sensitivity of 53% in 164 adults in an intensive care unit.…”

Skin temperature over the carotid artery provides an accurate noninvasive estimation of core temperature in infants and young children during general anesthesia

“…The accuracy of T sk_carotid method for estimating T naso is greater than all previous studies using a standard temperature sensor anywhere on the skin. Temperature measurements on the forehead agree poorly with deep core temperature (12) and are insufficient as a hyper/hypothermia diagnostic tool (30). Skin temperature on the lateral portion of the thigh also correlates poorly with esophageal temperature in young children undergoing elective surgery with general anesthesia (31).…”

Thermoregulatory disorders and illness related to heat and cold stress

“…In common clinical practice, noninvasive methods approximate core temperature indirectly. The traditional method of taking oral temperature with a sublingual mercury-in-glass thermometer has, in recent decades, yielded to new technologies that avoid the potential hazards of broken glass and liquid mercury (Zhen et al, 2014;Apa et al, 2013;Batra and Goyal, 2013;El-Radhi and Patel, 2006;Gasim et al, 2013;Jefferies et al, 2011;Penning et al, 2011). The most sensitive temperature sensors are thermistors, which are semiconductors, the electrical resistance of which varies in proportion to temperature (Bhavaraju et al, 2001).…”