Thermography

Thermography, also known as Medical Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging, is a noninvasive diagnostic technique that allows the examiner to visualize and quantify changes in skin surface temperature.

An infrared scanning device is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualized in colour on a monitor. This image  maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. The spectrum of colours show the amount of infrared radiation being emitted from the body surface. Since there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the normal body, subtle abnormal temperature asymmetries can be easily identified.

Thermography fills a gap in clinical diagnosis. While X rays, C.T. scans, ultrasound and M.R.I. are tests of anatomy, thermography is unique in its capability to show physiological change and metabolic processes. It has also proven to be a very useful complementary procedure to other diagnostic modalities.

Thermography is non invasive and it can be used to diagnosis, evaluate, monitor and document a large number of injuries and conditions, including soft tissue injuries and sensory/autonomic nerve fibre dysfunction.

Thermography can make the subjective feeling of pain visible by displaying the changes in skin surface temperature that accompany pain states. It can also show a combined effect of the autonomic nervous system and the vascular system, down to capillary dysfunctions. The effects of these changes appear as asymmetries in temperature distribution on the surface of the body.

Thermography is used as an aid for diagnosis and prognosis, as well as therapy follow up and rehabilitation monitoring, within clinical fields that include Rheumatology, neurology, physiotherapy, sports medicine, oncology, pediatrics, orthopedics and many others. Results obtained with medical thermography systems are totally objective and show excellent correlation with other diagnostic tests.

Thermography has been used extensively in human medicine in the U.S.A., Europe and Asia for the past 20 years. Until now, cumbersome equipment has hampered its diagnostic and economic viability. The state of the art PC-based infrared technology, as used at Valentus Clinics, is designed specifically for clinical application and has changed all this.