title: Active dynamic infrared thermal imaging in burn depth evaluation.
abstract: The aim of this study was to find the relationship between active dynamic thermography (ADT) with cold excitation and burn depth. This new modality of evaluation of burns seems to be an attractive proposal for quantitative classification, allowing proper choice of burn wound treatment: conservative or surgical, especially compared with static thermography. The work was an in vivo experiment on domestic pigs, and a small number of patients were also diagnosed as part of the study. Statistical analysis showed a high correlation between the ADT synthetic parameter--thermal time constant, τ--and the classification of burn wounds that were predicted to heal within 3 weeks and so were treated conservatively and those that were predicted to not heal within 3 weeks and so were surgically treated. The results of the study show an accuracy of 60.7% for clinical evaluation, 69.6% for static thermography, 83.0% for ADT, and 84.0% for histopathologic assessment. The authors have concluded that the ADT method with cold excitation is suitable for the qualitative and quantitative assessment of burn depth.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Plastic Surgery, Medical University of Gdansk, Poland; †Department of Biomedical Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Poland; ‡Department of Pathomorphology, Medical University of Gdansk, Poland; and §West Pomeranian Burns and Plastic Surgery Center, Gryfice, Poland.
authors.forename: Alicja
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Renkielska
authors.forename: Mariusz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kaczmarek
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nowakowski
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grudziński
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Czapiewski
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Krajewski
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grobelny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002056:Burns / Q000473:pathology*; D007259:Infrared Rays; D013552:Swine; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*; D014945:Wound Healing