Thermal imaging offers early alert for chronic wound care

New research shows thermal imaging techniques can predict whether a wound needs extra management, offering an early alert system to improve chronic wound care.

Nearly half a million Australians suffer from chronic wounds, which cost the nation’s health system about $3 billion each year. Untreated chronic wounds are the leading cause of limb amputation.

The Australian study shows textural analysis of thermal images of venous leg ulcers (VLUs) can detect whether a wound needs extra management as early as week two for clients receiving treatment at home.

The clinical study by RMIT and Bolton Clarke, published in the Nature journal Scientific Reports, is the first to investigate textural analysis on VLUs using thermal images that do not require physical contact with the wound.

Researchers found the method, which provides information on spatial heat distribution in a wound, could accurately predict whether VLUs would heal in 12 weeks by the second week after baseline assessment.

This is because wounds change significantly over the healing trajectory, with higher temperatures signalling potential inflammation or infection while lower temperatures can indicate a slower healing rate due to decreased oxygen in the region.

Thermal images of a venous leg ulcer showing healthy healing progress over three weeks.

Bolton Clarke Research Institute Senior Research Fellow Dr Rajna Ogrin said the current gold standard for predicting healing of VLUs – conventional digital planimetry – requires physical contact.

“A non-contact method like thermal imaging would be ideal to use when managing wounds in the home setting to minimise physical contact and therefore reduce infection risk,” Ogrin said.

After showing that traditional thermal imaging methods do not give reliable results, the research team developed a new method for the analysis and used this in the clinical trial.

The new study, which involved 60 participants with VLUs, found thermal imaging offers an improvement on the current guidance for using digital imagery or planimetry wound tracings to detect the healing wounds by week four.

“The significance of this work is that there is now a method for detecting wounds that d not heal in the normal trajectory by week two using a non-contact, quick, objective and simple method,” Ogrin said.

Thermal images of a venous leg ulcer that ultimately failed to heal. The images, taken over three weeks early in the healing process, can be used to predict that a VLU will not heal normally at week 12 and needs extra care.

After showing that traditional thermal imaging methods do not give reliable results, the research team developed a new method for the analysis and used this in the clinical trial.

“The significance of this work is that there is now a method for detecting wounds that do not heal in the normal trajectory by week two using a non-contact, quick, objective and simple method,” Ogrin said.

RMIT Professor Dinesh Kumar said regular wound photography could not easily be used for accurate measurement of changes in wound size and other physiological parameters over time in the home care environment.

“This is because there are large variations between images due to changes in the lighting conditions, image quality and differences in camera angle across specific points in time,” said Kumar, who leads the Biosignals for Affordable Healthcare group in RMIT’s School of Engineering.

“Textural analysis of thermal images is resilient to these variations and is a time-efficient and cost-effective method to identify delayed healing of VLUs and improve patient outcomes.”

‘Thermal imaging potential and limitations to predict healing of venous leg ulcers’, with RMIT co-authors Dr Mahta Monshipouri, Dr Behzad Aliahmad and Associate Professor Barbara Polus, is published in Scientific Reports (DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92828-2).

Story: Gosia Kaszubska

Health

Technology

01 July 2021

Return to RMIT News

Health

Technology

01 July 2021

Research
Science and technology
Industry

Engage

Related News

Bolstering resilience against cyber-attacks on autonomous cars

RMIT University is a partner in SELFY, a new European research project aiming to make digitally connected vehicles safer.

Prototyping and manufacturing facility to accelerate medtech start-ups

Entrepreneurs and researchers will collaborate to develop new medical technologies for healthcare and diagnostics thanks to funding for a $16.7 million facility based at RMIT University.

Engineers in Melbourne have discovered a way to replace 100% of conventional aggregates in concrete – such as gravel and crushed rock – with rubber from discarded tyres that meets building codes, promising a boost for the circular economy.

Concrete using recycled tyre rubber hits the road to a circular economy

Engineers have managed to replace 100% of conventional aggregates in concrete – such as gravel and crushed rock – with rubber from discarded tyres that meets building codes, promising a boost for the circular economy.

RMIT expands partnership with Apple to offer coding opportunities for the growing iOS app economy

RMIT has today entered an expanded partnership with Apple that will bring coding education to even more students across the country.

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

More information

Thermal imaging offers early alert for chronic wound care