Thermovision: a new diagnostic method for orofacial pain?

Area of Science:

• Medical imaging
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Infrared thermography offers comprehensive patient condition insights.
• It is applicable for monitoring acute and chronic orofacial pain syndrome.
• Thermal differences are typically assessed against contralateral reference regions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess changes in thermal patterns before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic brain stimulation (rTMS) in a patient with orofacial pain.
• To evaluate the utility of infrared thermography in monitoring pain treatment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized infrared quantitative thermography, a non-invasive, contactless method.
• Monitored dynamic thermal fields on the human body surface.
• Assessed temperature changes in an orofacial pain patient before and after rTMS treatment.

Main Results:

• On day one, significantly higher temperatures (max, min, average) were recorded in the pain area pre- and post-therapy.
• By day five, only a slight elevation in maximum temperature was noted in treated regions compared to contralateral sides.
• A thermal difference exceeding 0.4°C was primarily observed in minimum temperatures on the fifth day.

Conclusions:

• Infrared thermography indicated initial thermal alterations in orofacial pain regions.
• The observed thermal differences diminished over the treatment period.
• Larger, randomized, double-blind studies are required to validate the therapeutic effects of rTMS monitored by thermography.