Improving Diabetic Foot Care With Infrared Thermography and Artificial Intelligence: A Review.

BACKGROUND: One of the most common consequences in individuals with diabetes is the diabetic foot, which can cause foot ulcers and even lead to limb amputation. Since an increase of the temperature in the plantar region is directly correlated with an increased risk of ulceration, infrared thermography (IRT) has been used in multiple studies as an automatic tool for detecting problems in diabetic foot. Artificial intelligence-based computer-aided diagnosis systems are being more frequently used to improve decision-making and minimize errors. These technologies are designed to increase examination accuracy, consistency in image interpretation, prognosis evaluation support, and examination accuracy. They also have the ability to offer insightful information and help medical professionals to manage diabetic foot issues successfully.

METHODS: In this work, 37 papers that used thermography and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify diabetic foot complications and/or predict the risk of developing diabetic foot are analyzed.

RESULTS: The results demonstrate the potential of IRT imaging implementation with AI for the identification and prediction of diabetic foot complications.

CONCLUSIONS: The combination of IRT and AI shows significant potential for diabetic foot assessment; however, the great majority of these studies show that the research is confined to classification of foot thermograms using pre-prepared data sets. In particular, there is limited research on segmentation methods and constraints in the use of deep learning due to the lack of large and diverse datasets.