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Case Reports
. 2014 Dec 10:2:2050313X14561779.
doi: 10.1177/2050313X14561779. eCollection 2014.

Use of infrared thermography in children with shock: A case series

Alejandra Ortiz-Dosal  1 , Eleazar S Kolosovas-Machuca  2 , Rosalina Rivera-Vega  3 , Jorge Simón  4 , Francisco J González  2
Affiliations
Case Reports

Use of infrared thermography in children with shock: A case series

Alejandra Ortiz-Dosal et al. SAGE Open Med Case Rep. .

Abstract

Shock is a complex clinical syndrome caused by an acute failure of circulatory function resulting in inadequate tissue and organ perfusion. Digital infrared thermal imaging is a non-invasive technique that can detect changes in blood perfusion by detecting small changes in the temperature of the skin. In this preliminary study, eight pediatric patients (five boys, three girls), ages ranging from 6 to 14 years (average: 9.8 years), were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at "Dr. Ignacio Morones Prieto" Central Hospital; here, the patients were examined using digital infrared thermal imaging. Patients in shock showed a significant decrease in distal temperature (at least 7°), compared to critically ill patients without shock. The latter group presented a skin temperature pattern very similar to the one previously reported for healthy children. The results show that infrared thermography can be used as a non-invasive method for monitoring the temperature in pediatric patients in intensive care units in order to detect shock in its early stages.

Keywords: Thermography; infrared imaging; pediatric patients; shock; temperature.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(a) Thermography of the back of the hand of a critically ill child without shock and (b) thermography of the back of the hand of a child in shock.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Temperature average with SD of three sites for patients with shock and without shock.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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