Infrared Thermal Imaging of Patients With Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infection: Mixed Methods Analysis

Zuopeng Zhang; ZanFeng Cao; Fangge Deng; Zhanzheng Yang; Sige Ma; Qianting Guan; Rong Liu; Zhuosen He

doi:10.2196/22524

Infrared Thermal Imaging of Patients With Acute Upper Respiratory Tract Infection: Mixed Methods Analysis

Interact J Med Res. 2021 Aug 19;10(3):e22524. doi: 10.2196/22524.

Authors

Zuopeng Zhang^#¹, ZanFeng Cao^#¹, Fangge Deng², Zhanzheng Yang¹, Sige Ma³, Qianting Guan³, Rong Liu¹, Zhuosen He¹

Affiliations

¹ Emergency Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
³ The First Clinical College, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34420912
PMCID: PMC8414296
DOI: 10.2196/22524

Abstract

Background: Upper respiratory tract infection is a common disease of the respiratory system. Its incidence is very high, and it can even cause pandemics. Infrared thermal imaging (IRTI) can provide an objective and quantifiable reference for the visual diagnosis of people with acute respiratory tract infection, and it can function as an effective indicator of clinical diagnosis.

Objective: The aims of this study are to observe and analyze the infrared expression location and characteristics of patients with acute upper respiratory tract infection through IRTI technology and to clearly express the quantification of temperature, analyze the role of IRTI in acute upper respiratory tract diagnostic research, and understand the impact of IRTI in qualitative and quantitative research.

Methods: From December 2018 to February 2019, 154 patients with acute upper respiratory tract infection were randomly selected from the emergency department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University. Among these patients, 73 were men and 81 were women. The subjects were divided into two groups according to the presence of fever, namely, fever and nonfever groups. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the infrared thermal images were performed to compare the results before and after application of the technology.

Results: Using the method described in this paper, through the analysis of experimental data, we elucidated the role of IRTI in the diagnosis of acute upper respiratory tract infection, and we found that qualitative and quantitative IRTI analyses play important roles. Through the combination of theory and experimental data, the IRTI analysis showed good results in identifying acute upper respiratory tract infection.

Conclusions: IRTI technology plays an important role in identifying the infrared expression location and characteristics of patients with acute upper respiratory tract infection as well as in the quantification of clear expression of body temperature, and it provides an objective and quantifiable reference basis for elucidating the pathogenesis of these patients.

Keywords: acute upper respiratory tract; infrared thermography; qualitative study; quantitative study.

©Zuopeng Zhang, ZanFeng Cao, Fangge Deng, Zhanzheng Yang, Sige Ma, Qianting Guan, Rong Liu, Zhuosen He. Originally published in the Interactive Journal of Medical Research (https://www.i-jmr.org/), 19.08.2021.