Value of Infrared Thermography Camera Attached to a Smartphone for Evaluation and Follow-up of Patients with Graves’ Ophthalmopathy

Abstract

Purpose. Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) is the most common extra-thyroid manifestation of Graves’ disease (GD). The Clinical Activity Score (CAS) has been widely used to evaluate GO inflammation severity and response to treatment; however, it is quite subjective. Infrared thermography (IRT) is a portable and low-cost device to evaluate local temperature and assess inflammation. The aim was to evaluate ocular temperature by IRT as an instrument for measuring inflammatory activity in GO and its correlation with CAS. Methods. This is a cross-sectional study involving 136 consecutive GD patients (12 with CAS ≥ 3/7, 62 with CAS < 3 and 62 without apparent GO) with 62 healthy controls. Patients with active ophthalmopathy were prospectively evaluated. Exophthalmometry, CAS, and thermal images from caruncles and upper eyelids were acquired from all subjects. Results. All eye areas of thermal evaluation had higher temperatures in GD patients with active ophthalmopathy (caruncles, p<0.0001; upper eyelids, p<0.0001), and it was positively correlated with CAS (r=0.60 and p<0.0001 at caruncles; r=0.58 and p<0.0001 at upper eyelids). No difference in temperature was found between other groups. Patients with active ophthalmopathy were prospectively evaluated after 6 or 12 months of the treatment and a significant difference was found in ophthalmometry (p=0.0188), CAS (p=0.0205), temperature of caruncles (p=0.0120), and upper eyelids (p=0.0066). Conclusions. IRT was an objective and simple tool for evaluation and follow-up of inflammation in GO, allowed evidencing patients with significant inflammatory activity, and had a good correlation with the CAS score.

Ocular surface temperature differences in glaucoma

“…Klamann et al 25 used thermography to examine eyes with bacterial corneal ulcers and showed a positive correlation between clinical observations of signs related to ocular surface inflammation and OST findings. Minatel Riguetto et al 26 used infrared thermography to evaluate OST in patients with thyroid orbitopathy, and found a good correlation between the patients' Clinical Activity Score and their OST.…”

Thermographic Control of Pediatric Dental Patients During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemics Using Smartphones

“…In general, IR-TICs connected to smartphones provide accurate temperature measurements and their use in medicine for diagnostic purposes is also recently documented [33][34][35]. They have been used to evaluate post-surgical wounds, tumor lesions assessment, skin inflammation related to pathologies, and ophtalmopathies.…”

“…They have been used to evaluate post-surgical wounds, tumor lesions assessment, skin inflammation related to pathologies, and ophtalmopathies. The IR-TIC used for this study has features comparable to IR-TICs used in other medical studies [26,27,29,31,[33][34][35].…”

“…For some time now, there have been IR-TICs on the market recognized for their excellent characteristics in terms of accuracy and sensitivity and at affordable prices that connecting to common smartphones can provide excellent thermographic images also useful for diagnostic purposes [33][34][35]. This study aimed to evaluate the use of IR-TIC on a smartphone as a reliable device for body temperature measurement in children.…”

Thermography in posterior scleritis

“…Об увеличении ТГП на фоне глазных воспалительных процессов, за исключением ЗС, ранее сообщалось в различных исследованиях [13,16]. Сложности в диагностике ЗС могут возникнуть вследствие недостаточного опыта, субклинического течения воспаления или атипичности симптомов.…”