Utility of thermography in the diagnosis of lumbosacral radiculopathy
Harper, C.M.; Low, P.A.; Fealey, R.D.; Chelimsky, T.C.; Proper, C.J.; Gillen, D.A.
Neurology 41(7): 1010-1014
1991
ISSN/ISBN: 0028-3878 PMID: 1648678 Document Number: 375090
We performed infrared telethermography in 55 patients with the clinical diangosis of lumbosacral radiculopathy and in 37 normal controls. Five readers interpreted the thermograms in a blinded fashion. A moderate degree of agreement was noted in tests of intraobserver and interobserver variability. The sensitivity of thermography ranged from 78% to 94% compared with 81% to 92% for imaging studies and 77% for EMG. The specificity of thermography ranged from 20% to 44%. Thermography predicted the level of the radiculopathy correctly in less than 50% of cases. Thermography has little or no utility in the diagnosis of lumbosacral radiculopathy.