WHOLE BODY INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20090204008A1
• Filed: 02/08/2008
• Published: 08/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alfa Thermodiagnostics, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Alfa Thermodiagnostics, Inc.
• Inventors: Beilin, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US12/028,743
• Publication Number:
  US 20090204008A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/474
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/015 By temperature mapping of body part
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7275 Determining trends in physiological measurement data; Predicting development of a medical condition based on physiological measurements, e.g. determining a risk factor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence

Abstract

Systems, methods and apparatus are described for the collection and analysis of thermographic data. An infrared sensor is described that is mounted at an end of a probe and, together with a filter that restricts infrared radiation received by the infrared sensor to a selected band of wavelengths, a signal representative of a temperature at various points on the skin surface can be collected. Systems, methods and apparatus are described that facilitate the identification of target locations on the skin of a subject. Systems methods and apparatus are disclosed that can process a plurality of temperatures measured at different test sites on the skin surface and which provide information that includes an analysis of the plurality of temperatures.

Claims

1. A probe for measuring skin temperature, comprising:

an infrared sensor mounted at an end of the probe;

a filter that restricts infrared radiation received by the infrared sensor to a selected band of wavelengths;

a processor for receiving from the sensor, a signal representative of a temperature at the skin surface and configured to process a plurality of temperatures measured at different test sites on the skin surface; and

a display providing information to an operator of the probe, the information including an analysis of the plurality of temperatures.

2. The probe of claim 1, wherein the filter comprises one or more Germanium crystals.

3. The probe of claim 2, wherein the filter is configurable to the selected band of wavelengths.

4. The probe of claim 3, wherein the filter is configurable by adding or removing certain of the Germanium crystals.

5. The probe of claim 3, wherein the filter is configurable by replacing the filter with a different filter having different optical properties.

6. The probe of claim 1, wherein the band of wavelengths comprises a portion of the wavelengths in the range 2-20 μ

m.

7. The probe of claim 6, wherein the band of wavelengths comprises wavelengths lying within 4 μ

m band.

8. The probe of claim 6, wherein the band of wavelengths comprises wavelengths lying within 2 μ

m band.

9. The probe of claim 1 and further comprising one or more elongated members extending a predetermined distance from the end of the probe for maintaining a desired separation of the infrared sensor and the skin surface.

10. An infrared thermography method comprising the steps of

identifying a target location on the skin of a subject;

providing location information to an operator of a thermographic probe, the location information indicating the relationship of the target location to one or more landmarks;

upon receiving a positioning signal, measuring temperature of the target location using an infrared sensor in the thermographic probe, wherein the positioning signal indicates a predefined proximity to the skin at the target location; and

selectively repeating the identifying, providing and measuring steps for a plurality of different target locations.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of measuring includes:

obtaining a plurality of temperature readings from the infrared sensor over a selected period of time; and

determining a steady state temperature reading for the target location from the plurality of temperature readings.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the steady state temperature includes performing a statistical analysis of the plurality of temperature readings.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of measuring includes receiving infrared radiation from the target location, wherein the infrared radiation is limited to a selected band of wavelengths.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the band of wavelengths is selected by one or more filters.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more filters includes at least one Germanium filter.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein the step of measuring includes receiving infrared radiation from the target location, the infrared radiation being limited to a first band of wavelengths, and further comprising:

selecting a second band of wavelengths; and

repeating the steps of identifying, providing and measuring for the second band of wavelengths.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least some of the wavelengths are found in the first and second bands of wavelengths.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first and second bands comprise no common wavelengths.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the second band of wavelengths is narrower than the first band of wavelengths.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein identifying the target location includes selecting a next target location from a set of locations on the skin of the subject, the set of locations providing information related to the medical condition of the subject.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein providing location information includes displaying an image depicting the target location in relation to the one or more landmarks.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein providing location information includes providing an audible description of the target location in relation to the one or more landmarks.

23. The method of claim 10 and further comprising communicating the measured temperature to a networked device.

24. An infrared thermography diagnostic system comprising:

a thermographic probe providing a plurality of temperature measurements obtained at a plurality locations on the skin of a subject, each temperature measurement obtained using a band-limited infrared sensor;

a processor configured to process the plurality of skin temperature measurements to determine the existence of one or more patterns; and

a repository of pattern information, each pattern identifying an underlying medical condition, wherein the plurality of temperature measurements includes a first series of temperatures measured at a first ambient temperature and a second series of temperatures measured at a second ambient temperature, each measurement in the first series and a corresponding measurement in the second series being obtained at the same location on the skin.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein the processor receives the plurality of measurements from the thermographic probe and performs one or more pattern matching methods on the plurality of measurements using the repository of pattern information from a network server.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the one or more pattern matching methods is based on a trend analysis of the plurality of measurements.