Tympanic ear thermometer assessment of body temperature among patients with cognitive disturbances. An acceptable and ethically desirable alternative?

Abstract

A linear relationship between the rectal body temperature assessment and the temperature assessment employing the tympanic thermometer is weak. Both measuring methods reflect variance in temperature, but ear measurements showed larger variation.

Diagnostic Test Accuracy of New Generation Tympanic Thermometry in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…Some techniques have been used to improve the test accuracy, such as the Braun Welch Allyn Pro 4000 Thermoscan, where a heating element in the sensor heats the probe tip to just below normal body temperature to avoid cooling the ear canal [36]. And the improvements of geometry and algorithms have been developed to ensure that the displayed result reflects the tympanic temperature accurately [11]. Hence, the newer versions of tympanic thermometers might meet the clinicians' requested improvements of repeatability in noninvasive temperature assessments.…”

“…Tympanic thermometry is a popular alternative for the traditional measures. It detects the radiation of tympanic membrane and the ear canal, which share the blood supply with the hypothalamus, the thermoregulatory center of the human body [11,12]. Using the ear temperature is less traumatic and allows a faster triage [13],but it has been debated for the low accuracy and reproducibility compared with other measurements[1, [13][14][15][16][17].…”

Diagnostic Test Accuracy of New Generation Tympanic Thermometry in Children under Different Cutoffs: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

“…The FST uses a sensor probe to measure the amount of infrared heat produced by the temporal arteries [8]. The IRTT detects the radiation of tympanic membrane and the ear canal, which share the blood supply with the hypothalamus, the thermoregulatory center of the human body [11,12]. Both these two methods are safe, easy to use, comfortable and quick.…”

“…Over the past years, however, the IRTT have been developed and updated, and some older versions have been obsolete. The new generation IRTT used various brand-specific ways to enhance accuracy, for example, improvements of geometry and algorithms, a wider angle measurement, displaying temperature on multiple samples and equipping with a heat probe [11,19].…”

Development of Body Tissue Temperature Control Transducer

“…For precise non-invasive body temperature measurement most commonly are used tympanic ear and rectal thermometers [2,3,4]. Same studies have shown that normal body temperature ranges can be between 36.2 and 37.5 °C [5].…”