ReviewStrategies in trauma and limb reconstruction
Current Use of Infrared Thermography in Orthopaedic and Bone or Joint Trauma Patients-Can We Identify Postoperative Infection? A Narrative Systematic Review.
Review in Strategies in trauma and limb reconstruction. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Dynamic Infrared Thermography Reveals Bilateral Thermal Recovery Asymmetry in Scoliosis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Assessing the Health and Functionality of the Microcirculation Using Thermal Imaging.Journal of biophotonics · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Aim and background: Technological advances have made infrared thermography (IRT) sensitive, noncontact, and low cost for medical applications and it is used in a range of fields. A widening body of research has investigated IRT in the orthopaedic setting, including the investigation of orthopaedic infection. Infrared thermography could provide a rapid, low-cost, objective, noncontact technique to aid in the diagnosis of orthopaedic infections. Methods: Electronic searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, and EMBASE from 2000 to 2024 were made. The search strategy aimed to include all studies in adults investigating the use of IRT in orthopaedic and bone or joint trauma patients and those studies which provide baseline values, including in patients with infection. Articles were screened by title and abstract by two authors. Bias was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale tool. Studies were heterogeneous; therefore, results were summarised in tables and presented as a narrative synthesis. Results: The search identified 36 studies. Studies have shown that IRT is useful in fracture or soft tissue diagnosis, detecting periprosthetic infection, and it may have a role in screening healthy subjects. There is still considerable variance in the application of IRT in the trauma and orthopaedic setting. Conclusion: Infrared thermography is sensitive to skin temperature changes in infected limbs following orthopaedic surgery and may be used as a low-cost, noncontact, irradiation-free screening tool to identify orthopaedic infection in the future. Future studies should identify the cost effectiveness of IRT in clinical practice. Barriers include the low incidence of orthopaedic infection and large number of confounders that can affect IRT readings. Clinical significance: Infrared thermography can provide rapid information that may be a useful adjunct in the emergency department or outpatient clinics to diagnose a range of orthopaedic conditions, including infection. Current research has yet to demonstrate clinical significance. How to cite this article: Watts AT, Boyle AMP, Kutuzov V,
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