Abstract
Aims: Infrared thermal imaging (IR) is not yet routinely implemented for early detection of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), despite proven clinical effectiveness. Low-cost, smartphone-based IR-cameras are now available and may lower the threshold for implementation, but the quality of these cameras is unknown. We aim to validate a smartphone-based IR-camera against a high-end IR-camera for diabetic foot assessment. Methods: We acquired plantar IR images of feet of 32 participants with a current or recently healed DFU with the smartphone-based FLIR-One and the high-end FLIR-SC305. Contralateral temperature differences of the entire plantar foot and nine pre-specified regions were compared for validation. Intra-class correlations coefficient (ICC(3,1)) and Bland-Altman plots were used to test agreement. Clinical validity was assessed by calculating statistical measures of diagnostic performance. Results: Almost perfect agreement was found for temperature measurements in both the entire plantar foot and the combined pre-specified regions, respectively, with ICC values of 0.987 and 0.981, Bland-Altman plots’ mean Δ = −0.14 and Δ = −0.06. Diagnostic accuracy showed 94% and 93% sensitivity, and 86% and 91% specificity. Conclusions: The smartphone-based IR-camera shows excellent validity for diabetic foot assessment.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 132-139 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice |
| Volume | 149 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2019 |
Keywords
- Diabetes mellitus
- Diabetic foot
- Foot ulcer
- Smartphone
- Temperature
- Thermal infrared