Abstract
We performed infrared telethermography in 55 patients with the clinical diagnosis of lumbosacral radiculopathy and in 37 normal controls. Five readers interpreted the thermograms in a blinded fashion. A moderate degree of agreement was noted in tests of intraobserver and interobserver variability. The sensitivity of thermography ranged from 78% to 94% compared with 81% to 92% for imaging studies and 77% for EMG. The specificity of thermography ranged from 20% to 44%. Thermography predicted the level of the radiculopathy correctly in less than 50% of cases. Thermography has little or no utility in the diagnosis of lumbosacral radiculopathy.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1010-1014 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Neurology |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1991 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology