Diagnostic Capabilities of Infrared Thermography in the Examination of Patients with Diseases of Maxillofacial Area

The aim of the investigation was to evaluate the possibility to apply infrared thermography for the diagnosis of pathological maxillofacial conditions.

Materials and Methods. 250 patients with different maxillofacial pathological conditions underwent an examination, thermographic analysis and comprehensive treatment. All patients were divided into three groups: group 1 (n=114) — patients with inflammatory diseases of maxillofacial area; group 2 (n=40) — patients with traumatic maxillofacial injuries; group 3 (n=96) — patients with benign (n=54) and malignant (n=42) neoplasms of the maxillofacial area.

Results. Local temperature indices of the maxillofacial area were found to change significantly in inflammatory diseases. The decrease of temperature indices was revealed in the centre of radicular cysts (by 0.1–0.3°С), in central and peripheral (by 1.3–2.3°С) points over chronic osteomyelitis, in acute purulent periostitis (by 1.2–1.9°С), in acute osteomyelitis (by 1.5–1.9°С), in acute grandular abscess (by 2.0–2.3°С), in odontogenic phlegmon of maxillofacial area (by 1.4–3.0°С), and odontogenic abscess (by 1.8–2.4°С). We found significant increase of temperature indices in traumatic injuries: in lower type LeFort fractures (by 1.3–1.5°С), in medial type LeFort fractures (by 1.2–1.6°С), in mandibular fractures (by 0.2–0.6°С). Significant increase of temperature indices was observed over malignant neoplasms — in the range of 2.8–3.6°С, while temperature indices over benign tumors and tumor-like masses did not exceed 1.4°C.

Conclusion. Infrared thermography is a reliable, highly informative, non-invasive and safe method, requiring no trained staff. It can be used for diagnosis, differential diagnosis and prognostic studies in various diseases of maxillofacial area.

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Durnovo Е.А., Potekhina Y.P., Marochkina M.S., Yanova N.А., Sahakyan M.Yu., Ryzhevsky D.V. Diagnostic Capabilities of Infrared Thermography in the Examination of Patients with Diseases of Maxillofacial Area. Sovremennye tehnologii v medicine 2014; 6(2): 61