Tuberculine reaction measured by infrared thermography

• Published in: Computer methods and programs in biomedicine Vol. 122; no. 2; pp. 199 - 206
• Main Authors: Fiz, José Antonio, Lozano, Manuel, Monte-Moreno, Enrique, Gonzalez-Martinez, Adela, Faundez-Zanuy, Marcos, Becker, Caroline, Pons-Rodriguez, Laura, Ruiz Manzano, Juan
• Format: Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.11.2015
• Subjects: Adult; Algorithms; Aparells mèdics; Aplicacions de la informàtica; Biomedical engineering; Data processing; Diagnosis; Enginyeria biomèdica; Female; Humans; Image processing; Indicators and Reagents; Infection; Informàtica; Infrared Rays; Infrared thermography; Internal Medicine; Male; Medicina; Medicine; Other; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Skin Temperature - drug effects; Skin Temperature - immunology; Skin-test; Spectrophotometry, Infrared - methods; Thermography - methods; Tuberculin; Tuberculin Test - methods; Tuberculine test; Tuberculosis - diagnosis; Tuberculosis - immunology; Àrees temàtiques de la UPC; Infrared thermography; Image processing; Tuberculine test
• ISSN: 0169-2607; 1872-7565
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2015.08.009

•First paper devoted to tuberculine reaction measurement based on thermal imaging.•There is good agreement in area length of tuberculin reaction between visual and thermographic evaluation.•Automatic generation of positive and negative results of the tuberculin skin test evaluated by infrared imaging. The infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis gives a delayed immune response, measured by the tuberculine skin test. We present a new technique for evaluation based on automatic detection and measurement of skin temperature due to infrared emission. 34 subjects (46.8±16.9 years) (12/22, M/F) with suspected tuberculosis disease were examined with an IR thermal camera, 48h after tuberculin skin injection. In 20 subjects, IR analysis was positive for tuberculine test. Mean temperature of injection area was higher, around 1°C, for the positive group (36.2±1.1°C positive group; 35.1±1.6°C negative group, p<0.02 T test for unpaired groups). IR image analysis achieves similar estimation of tuberculin reaction as the visual evaluation, based on higher temperature due to increased heat radiation from the skin lesion.