Use of Computerized Digital Thermometry for Diagnosis of Raynaud's Phenomenon

Abstract

The authors have used computerized digital thermometry for the instrumen tal diagnosis of Raynaud's phenomenon; such a technique enables them to eval uate the temperature of the ten fingers of the hands separately in baseline conditions, during and after the "cold test." In baseline conditions the mean digital skin temperature was 31.2°C (SD 1.67) in control subjects and 26.8°C (SD 2.84) in patients suffering from Ray naud's phenomenon (p < 0.001). During the cold test the mean skin temperature decreased to 12.7°C (SD 1.94) in control subjects and to 13.0°C (SD 1.67) in patients (p=n.s.). The mean final skin temperature, at the end of the recovery period after the cold test, was 31.1°C (SD 1.76) in controls and 21.9°C (SD 2.78) in patients (p < 0.001). The sensitivity of the computerized digital thermometry was high (63.6% and 92.7% for basal and final temperature, respectively), while the specificity was 100% for both values. In conclusion, computerized digital thermometry is a useful technique for the diagnosing and quantifying the extent of Raynaud's phenomenon.