Infrared Thermal Imaging Of Patients With Chronic Heart Failure: A Pilot Study

Background : Early diagnosis heart failure(HF)is necessary for prompt initiation of treatment.However,diagnosing HF is challenging in clinic.The aim of this study was to investigate the manifestations of HF using infrared thermal imaging(IRTI)for early diagnosis.Methods and Results: This is a observational study,registered in Clinical.Trials.gov(Number:NCT02672618).From Nov 2015 to Feb 2016,104 consecutive patients were enrolled,47 patients in HF group and 50 patients in control group.As European Society of Cardiology(ESC)Guideline 2012 for heart failure,the diagnosis of HF was left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)(27)50% and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide(NT-pro BNP)?125pg/ml.An IRTI camera was used to obtain facial thermal images in all patients.All collected data were converted into gray scale digital images with analytical software for analysis.Results showed the mean temperature of cheek was significantly low in the HF group than control group(P<0.01).But there were no significantly in mean temperature of inner canthus(P>0.05)between the two groups.Mean temperature difference in the inner canthus and cheek,was significantly high in the HF group than in control group(P(27)0.01).Conclusions: IRTI could effectively detect the alteration of facial temperature difference in patients with HF and is likely to be a promising approach for early diagnosis of HF.