Infrared Thermography and Ultrasonography of the Hands in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Koichi Yabunaka; Noriyuki Hayashi; Yutaka Furumitsu; Yoshiteru Ohno; Masayo Matsuzaki; Shinichi Yamauchi

doi:10.4103/JMU.JMU_113_20

Infrared Thermography and Ultrasonography of the Hands in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

J Med Ultrasound. 2021 Jan 9;29(3):212-214. doi: 10.4103/JMU.JMU_113_20. eCollection 2021 Jul-Sep.

Authors

Koichi Yabunaka¹, Noriyuki Hayashi², Yutaka Furumitsu², Yoshiteru Ohno², Masayo Matsuzaki³, Shinichi Yamauchi⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ultrasound, Ono Memorial Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
² Department of Internal Medicine, Ono Memorial Hospital, Osaka, Japan.
³ Department of Children and Women's Health, Division of Health Science, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
⁴ Department of Orthopedics, Ono Memorial Hospital, Osaka, Japan.

Abstract

Ultrasonography (US) and power Doppler US (PDUS) are used worldwide for diagnosing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Superb microvascular imaging (SMI) is a good tool for evaluating inflammatory activity. Thermal imaging is a noncontact, noninvasive procedure using skin temperature measurement. We report a case wherein the thermal and ultrasound images of the hand are compared and evaluated for inflammatory activity in patients with RA. Case: US imaging of the left hand of a 75-year-old woman with RA revealed a hypoechoic lesion of the left wrist joint. PDUS and SMI evaluated blood flow according to the blood flow at Grade 2. The temperature of the hypoechoic lesion with high blood flow was higher than that of the same location on the opposite side. This study shows that combining thermal and blood flow images may be useful for detecting inflammatory activity levels in RA patients.

Keywords: Infrared thermography; power Doppler; rheumatoid arthritis; superb microvascular imaging; ultrasonography.

Publication types

Case Reports