Identificação de um perfil térmico de normalidade em macro e microrregiões da face por termografia infravermelha

Abstract

Infrared thermography has been applied to analyze skin temperature based on infrared radiation emitted by the human body and can be used as an adjunct in the diagnosis of diseases and for monitoring therapeutic procedures. The objective this research was to identify a thermal profile of normality in macro and micro regions of the face in a healthy population, through infrared thermography, comparing them with clinical data. This research consisted of a cross-sectional observational, quantitative and characterization study, carried out at the Laboratory of Infrared Thermography of the Department of Dentistry at the State University of Paraíba (UEPB). The sample consisted of 100 participants, over 18 years old, of both sexes, considered systemically healthy, who were invited to participate in this research, according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. For this, three thermographic acquisitions of each volunteer were performed: frontal and lateral, right and left, totaling 300 thermal images. For the acquisition of thermographic images, a portable camera with an infrared sensor FLIR T650 Infrared was used. The regions of interest (ROIs) for facial thermal analysis were as follows: for the frontal norm, 10 macroregions and eight micro-regions were determined; for the lateral norm (right and left), 6 macroregions and three microregions were determined. For analysis of the thermograms, the Flir ReasearchIR Max software was used. Inferential data analysis was conducted using the Wilcoxon test to identify possible temperature differences. In addition to the Mann-Whitney test, which was used to compare the gender variable with temperatures. Separately, for comparisons of age, race/ethnicity and BMI variables, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used. The significance level was set at 5%. All statistical analyzes were conducted using SPSS Statistics software (version 25.0; IBM SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). The sample consisted of 66 women and 34 men, the majority being white (52%), aged less than 35 years (53%), with BMI categorized as “Adequate weight” (51%). There was a significant difference in temperature (p<0.001) between the macro-regions and micro-regions of the face when compared with each other and with body core temperature measurements. Female participants showed a decrease in temperature in certain regions. Volunteers under the age of 35, white and with “Adequate Weight” had higher temperatures in both macro and micro areas. In view of the results presented, it was possible to identify a normal thermal facial profile with hyperradiant and hyporadiant zones, according to the different variables related to the evaluated population.