Development of a continuous temperature mapping system using a deep body thermometer

To determine continuous body temperature distribution, an inexpensive temperature mapping system was developed using a deep body thermometer adopting the finite-element method. A stripe with 16 thermocouples was wrapped around the waist of rats to measure body surface temperatures (the boundary conditions). The abdominal deep temperature of the rats was measured from the dorsum using the thermal compensation probe of a deep body thermometer. The abdominal temperature of the rats was mapped by solving a heat conduction equation using surface and deep temperatures obtained in real time. The temperature measured with a thermocouple inserted into the abdominal centre of the rats correlated well with the calculated temperature (r = 0.93, p < 0.01). The system is low cost and simple to use compared with the magnetic resonance temperature mapping system. Our temperature mapping system could potentially result in improved management of patients in critical care medicine.