Thermal Imaging and Pediatric Burns

Plain-language summary

The need to cover a burn with a skin graft is determined primarily by its depth. In fact only burns of the second deep degree or the third degree are likely to be grafted. However, if the diagnosis is obvious in the case of third degree burns, second degree burns are often "mixed" with more or less deep areas, especially in pediatrics. Clinical experience and daily observation of the burn since its occurrence currently determine the indication for surgery. In practice, it is rare to be able to determine with certainty whether a second degree mixed burn will require a graft before the 10-12th day of evolution. There are currently devices that can help refine the diagnosis such as laser Doppler, but they are expensive devices, and not 100% reliable. The thermal camera Flir-one® attaches to a smartphone or tablet and allows thanks to a free application, to obtain a thermogram of the pointed area. This is a device used to detect insulation deficits in the building sector. Knowing that a deep burn, by devascularization, will have an external temperature lower than a superficial burn, a thermogram would thus make it possible to better identify the deep zones and the superficial zones of the burn. One study showed a good sensitivity and specificity of the device but it was a population of adult patients. This determined that a difference in skin temperature between a deep burned area and healthy skin should be at least 1.15 ° C in favor of healthy skin, to retain a burn as deep, and not to operate so-called superficial burn if this difference was below this threshold. However, further studies would be needed to demonstrate the validity of this method in clinical practice.

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