Analysis of the value of infrared thermal imaging technology in the diagnosis of emergency pulmonary infections

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 29278 - 8
• Main Authors: Zhang, Zuopeng, Cao, Zanfeng, Wu, Zhixin, Yang, Zhanzheng, Nie, Huiyi, Chen, Xiaoying, Deng, Fangge
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 10.08.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/1647; 631/45; 631/57; 631/61; 631/67; 631/92; 692/699; Adult; Aged; Bronchopulmonary infection; Chest; Diagnosis; Diagnostic value; Emergency medical care; Emergency pulmonary infection; Female; High temperature; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; I.R. radiation; Infections; Infectious diseases; Infrared radiation; Infrared Rays; Infrared thermal imaging technology; Lung - diagnostic imaging; Lungs; Male; Medical ethics; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Pathogens; Patients; Pneumonia; Respiratory Tract Infections - diagnosis; Respiratory Tract Infections - diagnostic imaging; ROC Curve; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Statistical analysis; Thermography; Thermography - methods; Diagnostic value; Emergency pulmonary infection; Infrared thermal imaging technology
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-15123-4

To explore the value of infrared thermal imaging technology in the diagnosis of emergency pulmonary infections. 200 patients who received emergency treatment at our hospital from October 2020 to December 2021 were selected as the study subjects. General information was collected from all patients, including 108 patients with acute pulmonary infection and 92 patients without pulmonary infection. All patients were tested using infrared thermal imaging technology and infrared thermal imaging equipment, with X-ray examination as the gold standard, The chest X-ray scan was performed using an X-ray camera produced by Siemens, and the temperature difference between the affected areas detected by infrared thermal imaging technology in two groups of patients was compared. The detection rate of infrared thermal imaging in the lung infection group was analyzed, and the diagnostic efficacy was evaluated by plotting the ROC curve to calculate the area under the curve. Compared with the uninfected group, the infrared radiation temperature of the infected group was significantly increased in the body surface, chest, abdomen, bilateral lungs, and midpoint of the breasts, with a statistically significant difference ( P  < 0.05). The positive rate of infrared thermal imaging detection in the lung infection group was 93 cases (86.11%), and the positive rate of gold standard X-ray detection was 102 cases (94.44%), the difference is statistically significant ( P  < 0.05). The AUC value of infrared thermal imaging technology for detecting emergency pulmonary infection patients is 0.933, the sensitivity is 90.36%, the specificity is 92.28%, and the Jordan index is 0.92. Infrared thermography has important applications in the diagnosis of lung infections in emergency medicine.It can reflect the distribution range of abnormal hot spots in patients’ lung infections by evaluating temperature changes, and has good diagnostic value in clinical practice.