upper body images

UPPER BODY CASE STUDIES

Thermography is a safe, non-invasive screening tool helpful in the diagnosis of
the following:

  • Arthritis
  • Breast Health Evaluation
  • Carpel Tunnel Syndrome
  • Chronic Low Back Pain
  • Chronic Nerve Injury
  • Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
  • Fibromyalgia
  • Headache / Sinus Pain
  • Neck and Back Problems
  • Pain Evaluation
  • Referred pain
  • Visualization of Pain
  • Repetitive Strain Injuries
  • Soft Tissue Injuries/ Sports Injuries
  • Stroke Risk Assessment
  • Musculo-Skeletal Syndromes
  • Whiplash

There are numerous medical associations who support the use of
thermography:

the AMA Council on Scientific Affairs;
American Academy of Medical Imaging; ACA Council on
Diagnostic Imaging; ICA Council on Diagnostic Imaging;
American Academy of Pain Management; American Academy
of Head, Neck and Facial Pain; and TMJ Orthopedics have all
issued statements confirming its efficacy as a valid diagnostic tool.

Thermographic imaging is used in prestigious institutions,
such as:
The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine;
Georgetown University of Medicine;
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center;
Tulane University; and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to name a few.
Overseas, it has also been used at the Louis Pasteur Institute in Paris; University of Copenhagen; Verona University Hospital (Italy); and the Yeshiva University Medical School in Tel Aviv. The weight of evidence clearly supports thermography as a valid scientific diagnostic modality.

For patients experiencing back pain, thermography is being used to assess conditions of the facet joints, discs, myofascial conditions, nociceptive ones and nerve entrapments. A study by the UCSF Department of Radiology concludes that lumbar thermography is a "sensitive examination for detecting those patients who will demonstrate lumbar spinal CT abnormalities, and should play an important role in the diagnostic screening of low back pain syndrome patients.

B. M. Gratt and M. Anbar Section of Oral Radiology, UCLA School of Dentistry 90095-1668, USA.
Selected clinical applications using thermal imaging as an aid in dentistry are reviewed. Facial skin temperature can easily be measured in a clinical setting, without direct skin contact, by monitoring the emitted infrared radiation. This is the basis of static area telethermography (SAT) and dynamic area telethermography (DAT). SAT has recently been shown to be of help to the dentist in the diagnosis of chronic orofacial pain, as a unique tool in assessment of TMJ disorders, as an aid in assessment of inferior alveolar nerve deficit, and as a promising research tool. DAT, recently made possible by advances in computing technology combined with advanced infrared sensor technology, extracts quantitative information about hemodynamic processes from hundreds to thousands of digital thermal images of the affected facial areas, measured and collected within less than 3 min. DAT has promise of offering a better insight into aberrations of the neuronal control of facial skin perfusion and aiding our understanding of the correlation between orofacial pain and facial thermal abnormalities. This promising new insight may help in the management of orofacial pain.