[Clinical value of telethermography in the diagnosis of puerperal mastitis]

The study in 209 mothers with lactational mastitis has employed an AGA-780M thermovisor. Thermograms underwent a qualitative and quantitative isotherm-based evaluation. Diagnostic sensitivity of telethermography in mastitis was 97.1%. It could not differentiate types of mastitis in most cases and thus had a low specificity. Telethermography allows early identification of mastitis, control of therapy and reduction of the incidence of suppurative mastitis. The opportunity of telethermographic differentiation of milk stasis and initial mastitis has important practical implications since it allows one to avoid inappropriate use of antibiotics.