A comparison of thermal characteristics of the small joints of the hands between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls
Sevcan Uğur1
, Yakup İrim2, Ayşe Ayça Yücel3, Hamza Feza Carlak4, Cahit Kaçar5
1Department of Rheumatology, Antalya City Hospital, Antalya, Türkiye
2Department of Electronics and Automation, Vocational High School, Sinop University, Sinop, Türkiye
3Department of Rheumatology, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Türkiye
4Department of Electrical-Electronics Engineering, Engineering Faculty of Akdeniz University, Antalya, Türkiye
5Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Division of Rheumatology, Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, Antalya, Türkiye
Keywords: Rheumatoid arthritis, small joints of the hands, thermal imaging.
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to investigate the thermal characteristics of the small joints of the hands between patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and healthy controls.
Patients and methods: Between December 2020 and May 2021, a total of 52 RA patients (9 males, 43 females; mean age: 52.1±11.1 years; range, 38 to 68 years) who met the revised American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) classification criteria and 26 healthy controls (10 males, 16 females; mean age: 51.2±8.2 years; range, 38 to 68 years) were included. Joint tenderness was evaluated using Ritchie articular index (RAI). Joint tenderness was scored from 0 to 3. Thermal data were collected from the hand regions of individuals. A FLIR T450sc microbolometer infrared thermal camera with 320×240 resolution was used for the thermography of individuals. Bilaterally proximal interphalangeal joints (1-5) and metacarpophalangeal joints (1-5) were evaluated. The mean temperature was compared between the patients and healthy controls.
Results: The mean disease duration of patients with RA was 10.4±8.9 years. The mean temperature values of the joints in the patients with a RA RAI score of 0, 1, 2, 3 were 32.43±1.59°C; 32.71±1.36°C; 33.12±1.23°C; 33.60±0.99°C, respectively. The mean temperature was 31.14±1.51°C in healthy controls. The mean temperature values of the joints in the RA patients with RAI score of 0 was higher compared to healthy controls (p<0.05). Patients with a Ritchie sensitivity score of 1 had a higher mean temperature compared to patients with score of 0 (p<0.05). In RA patients, the joints with a RAI score of 1 had higher mean temperature values than the joints with RAI score of 0 (p<0.05). The mean temperature values of the joints with RAI score of 2 were also higher than the joints with RAI score of 1 (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Our study results suggest that thermal imaging may be an objective tool for diagnosis and assessing disease activity in RA.
Citation: Uğur S, İrim Y, Yücel AA, Carlak HF, Kaçar C. A comparison of thermal characteristics of the small joints of the hands between patients with rheumatoid arthritis and healthy controls. Arch Rheumatol 2024;39(4):617-623. doi: 10.46497/ArchRheumatol.2024.10753.