Medical Infrared Thermography in Odontogenic Facial Cellulitis as a Clinical Decision Support Tool. A Technical Note.

BACKGROUND

Odontogenic cellulitis are frequent infections of the head and neck fascial spaces that can sometimes spread and be life-threatening, requiring urgent hospitalization. Early diagnosis of facial cellulitis with diffuse inflammatory process is crucial in patient management but not always obvious in the field. Medical infrared thermography (MIT) is a noninvasive tool increasingly used to evaluate skin temperature maps and delineate inflammatory lesions.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this work was to evaluate the use of MIT to improve the clinical examination of patients with facial cellulitis.

METHODS

Image processing work was carried out to highlight the thermal gradient resulting from inflammation linked to infection, in 2 patients with facial cellulitis.

RESULTS

In real-time, MIT allowed to precisely locate the inflammatory focus linked to cellulitis with no propagation to danger areas such as infraorbital space or around pharyngeal axis.

CONCLUSION

Here, we show the first cases using MIT as a powerful complementary tool in the clinical evaluation of patients with facial cellulitis.

SIGNIFICANCE: This technology could help optimize the hospitalization decision through a facilitated assessment of infection spread in head and neck tissues and helping to incision for drainage.