Neonatal thermography

Anterior and posterior view thermograms were recorded in 37 neonates. Studies were performed under a radiant heater servocontrolled to an abdominal skin temperature of 36.0 C. Heart, liver, and kidneys, being highly vascular structures, were detected as "warm" areas on the body surface. A longitudinal study of an infant with a patent ductus arteriosus and congestive heart failure deomnstrated a generally cooler chest following a decrease in pulmonary artery blood flow accomplished by ductal ligation. Another infant demonstrated a unilateral warm area posteriorly over the left flank. At autopsy the right kidney and its vasculature internal organs. Thermography may prove to be a simple noninvasive tool for routine screening in the neonate of highly vascular internal organs. Thermographic detection of renal malformation may offer considerable potential.