Objective: Musculoskeletal injuries occur frequently. Diagnostic tests using ionizing radiation can lead to problems for patients, and infrared thermal imaging could be useful when diagnosing these injuries.
Conclusion: A systematic review was performed to determine the diagnostic accuracy of infrared thermal imaging in patients with musculoskeletal injuries. A meta-analysis of three studies evaluating stress fractures was performed and found a lack of support for the usefulness of infrared thermal imaging in musculoskeletal injuries diagnosis.
Keywords: diagnostic imaging; meta-analysis; musculoskeletal injuries; sensitivity and specificity; stress fractures; systematic review; thermography.