University of Leicester
Browse

A pilot study of the Leicester ED medical infrared imaging protocol in fever and sepsis.

Download (1.39 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2019-07-01, 10:45 authored by TJ Coats, M Morsy, S Naseer, K Keresztes, S Hussain, K Dexter, MR Sims
BACKGROUND: Medical Infrared Imaging (MII) is an investigative method that can be potentially used in emergency care to non-invasively detect thermal signatures associated with change in blood flow. We have developed a protocol for the use of MII in the Emergency Department (ED) and shown that it is feasible. To derive initial data for sample size calculations, we performed an exploratory study in patients with fever and sepsis. METHODS: The Leicester MII protocol was used to image the temperature patterns along the arm among three patient groups (control, fever and sepsis) of a total 56 patients. Anatomical markers were used to divide this gradient into upper arm, forearm, hand and finger regions. Variations in measurements within and between these regions were described. RESULTS: The thermal gradient down the arm was successfully extracted in all patients. The distribution of values in each region of the arm was described in control, fever and sepsis patients. There was a significant gradient between upper arm and finger in controls (2.75, p < 0.0001), but no gradient in fever (p = 0.944) or sepsis (p = 0.710). This was reflected in the finger/arm difference, which was of -2.74°C (±3.50) in controls, -0.39C (±2.48) in fever, and -1.80°C (±3.09) in sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: This study found different thermal gradients along the arm in control and febrile groups, and defined the degree of individual variation. It is likely that the difference between upper arm temperature and finger temperature (representing the temperature gradient down the arm) may be more useful than absolute measurements in future studies.

History

Citation

PLoS ONE, 2018, 13(7): e0201562

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF LIFE SCIENCES/School of Medicine/Department of Cardiovascular Sciences

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

PLoS ONE

Publisher

Public Library of Science

eissn

1932-6203

Acceptance date

2018-07-17

Copyright date

2018

Available date

2019-07-01

Publisher version

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0201562

Notes

Data are from the Open Science Framework website at osf.io/62cg9

Language

en

Usage metrics

    University of Leicester Publications

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Keywords

    Licence

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC