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. 2018 Mar 12:2018:9808295.
doi: 10.1155/2018/9808295. eCollection 2018.

Establishing Differences in Thermographic Patterns between the Various Complications in Diabetic Foot Disease

Alfred Gatt  1 , Owen Falzon  2 , Kevin Cassar  3 , Christian Ellul  1 , Kenneth P Camilleri  2   4 , Jean Gauci  2 , Stephen Mizzi  1 , Anabelle Mizzi  1 , Cassandra Sturgeon  3 , Liberato Camilleri  5 , Nachiappan Chockalingam  6 , Cynthia Formosa  1
Affiliations

Establishing Differences in Thermographic Patterns between the Various Complications in Diabetic Foot Disease

Alfred Gatt et al. Int J Endocrinol. .

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate the potential of thermography as an assessment tool for the detection of foot complications by understanding the variations in temperature that occur in type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods: Participants were categorized according to a medical examination, ankle brachial index, doppler waveform analysis, and 10-gram monofilament testing into five groups: healthy adult, DM with no complications, DM with peripheral neuropathy, DM with neuroischaemia, and DM with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) groups. Thermographic imaging of the toes and forefeet was performed.

Results: 43 neuroischaemic feet, 41 neuropathic feet, 58 PAD feet, 21 DM feet without complications, and 126 healthy feet were analyzed. The temperatures of the feet and toes were significantly higher in the complications group when compared to the healthy adult and DM healthy groups. The higher the temperatures of the foot in DM, the higher the probability that it is affected by neuropathy, neuroischaemia, or PAD.

Conclusions: Significant differences in mean temperatures exist between participants who were healthy and those with DM with no known complications when compared to participants with neuroischaemia, neuropathy, or PAD. As foot temperature rises, so does the probability of the presence of complications of neuropathy, neuroischaemia, or peripheral arterial disease.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Diagram showing the foot regions considered for temperature extraction. (b) An actual thermal image and the corresponding regions of interest. The temperatures from the toe regions and forefoot regions were considered for further analysis.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Toe temperature distribution.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Forefoot temperature distribution.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Logistical regression curves of toe temperatures.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Logistical regression curves of forefoot temperatures.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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