The effectiveness of digital infrared thermographic imaging in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome.

We prospectively evaluated 100 patients with unilateral impingement syndrome, before they underwent an arthroscopic subacromial decompression, to detect the relationship between clinical and operative findings and digital infrared thermographic imaging (DITI) findings in patients with shoulder impingement syndrome. The DITI system was used to measure the temperature of each patient's upper body, and the relative temperature values between involved and the uninvolved sides were used for analysis. A control group of 30 subjects without impingement syndrome was also evaluated. In DITI findings, 73% of patients had abnormal thermal changes in more than 1 of the 4 regions of interest: 51% displayed hypothermia, and 22% had hyperthermia. In the hypothermic group, limitation of shoulder motion was more prominent than in the hyperthermic and normal groups (P < .05). Other clinical findings did not correlate with the DITI findings, however. DITI can be used to reflect shoulder stiffness objectively in impingement syndrome, especially in those cases with a hypothermic thermal pattern.