Application of Infrared Thermography in Assessment of Diabetic Foot Anomalies: A Treatise

Diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is one of the most prevailing complications pertinent to subjects with long-term diabetes mellitus. DFS when not monitored periodically may end up in the onset of foot ulcers, which may eventually lead to infections and amputation, thereby affecting the quality of life of the subjects. The etiological aspects which are instrumental in the development of DFS are multifarious, namely Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN), Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD), and Neuroischaemia which can be characterized by the temperature distribution pattern in the feet of diabetic subjects. Hence, thermographic studies, that transform the infrared rays emitted from the skin surface of the affected region that are otherwise invisible to naked human eyes, into thermal images, can be deployed in the intervention of DFS, especially as a modality for mass screening in scenarios of strikingly high diabetic populations. This paper reviews the application of thermal imaging in understanding and analyzing the anomalies in diabetic foot and thereby evaluating the competence of medical infrared thermography (IRT).