A method for the assessment of rheumatoid arthritis using neural network supported static and dynamic thermal analysis
摘要
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by pain, swelling, stiffness, and loss of joint function, making early diagnosis challenging. The study aims to assess the differences between RA patients (n = 70) and healthy individuals (n = 30) while classifying Ritchie Articular Index (RAI) values (0–3) based on inflammation levels using artificial intelligence algorithms. Metacarpophalangeal (MCP), and proximal-interphalangeal (PIP) joints were analyzed for the degree of inflammation. Static thermal data was collected from individuals at rest in a controlled environment. Then, alcohol was applied to the participants’ hand regions, followed by a 180-second thermal video recording of the same region. In the pre-processing step, background noise cleaning and alignment were performed. Background was eliminated using Snake algorithm. Thermal video recordings were aligned using Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm. The Skeletonization algorithm was employed to detect fingers and joint regions in the images. For static thermal analysis, initial temperature (