10.1 Thermography in juvenile localised scleroderma assessment

Aim—To evaluate the clinical use of infrared thermography in localised scleroderma (LS) in disease activity assessment and management.

Methods—We retrospectively reviewed thermal images of children with LS obtained between 1993–2000. Thermographs were included only when a contemporary detailed clinical description of the lesion(s) was available. Lesions were classified as “active” (new or extended) or “quiescent” according to clinical description (colour, skin texture, measurements). Thermographs were considered positive when the affected area temperature was >0.5°C higher than the surrounding skin or the opposite site. Two clinicians (GM and KJM), blinded to the clinical description and thermography report, reviewed the thermal images independently. Full agreement in scoring was achieved in 86%, and discordant results were rescored by mutual examination.

Results—40 patients were included in the study (26 F, 14 M). The most common diagnosis was a combination of morphoea and linear scleroderma (M+LiS, 14 patients), followed by isolated LiS …