Thermography and rheumatic diseases.

The common factor in most of the rheumatic diseases is an arthritis. Radiometry and thermography have been shown to indicate and measure heat resulting from localised inflammation. In rheumatoid arthritis, juvenile arthritis, osteoarthrosis, gout and ankylosing spondylitis abnormal heat distribution has been recorded over affected joints. Experimental evidence has shown that temperature change reflects the inflammatory state of the joint, and that this may be used to measure the effect of therapy by oral, systemic and local drug therapy, and also surgery, i.e. synovectomy.