Infrared thermography of human fingers as a method of assessing regional circulation adaptation to blood loss

Abstract

The aim of the study - to investigate the dynamics of the temperature of fingers and palms in response to short-term ischemia. Materials and methods. The temperature dynamics of fingers and palms was studied with infrared thermal images before, during and after 2 minutes of provocable ischemia in the right hand in 14 healthy volunteers; in 5 blood donors after 400 ml of blood loss; and in 35 patients diagnosed with traumatic hemorrhagic shock. Infrared monitoring of hands temperature was performed by using ThermoTracer TH9100XX (NEC, USA) thermal imager. Ambient temperature of the examination room was 24-25°C, the temperature window of the thermal camera was set to the range of 25 to 36°C. Quantitative data are presented as mean ± standard deviation. Results. During the cuff occlusion test the fingers temperature of the healthy volunteer and blood donors after 60 minutes from collection 400 ml of blood was reduced by more than 0,1°C. After the cuff occlusion test in the pads of the fingers developed local hyperthermia, after 60-90 seconds of their temperature rises above baseline on 0.5-1.5°C, and then restored to the original level values for 3-5 minutes. Patients with hemorrhage by ATLS classification of more than 35% after the termination of cuff occlusion test hyperthermia in the fingertips are not developed, and they remained below baseline over 3-5 minutes the temperature. Conclusions. Changes in local temperature of human fingers after using cuff occlusion test can serve as a criterion for the adaptation of the regional blood flow to the blood loss.