Validation of low-cost smartphone-based thermal camera for diabetic foot assessment

Abstract

Aims: Infrared thermal imaging (IR) is not yet routinely implemented for early detection of diabetic foot ulcers (DFU), despite proven clinical effectiveness. Low-cost, smartphone-based IR-cameras are now available and may lower the threshold for implementation, but the quality of these cameras is unknown. We aim to validate a smartphone-based IR-camera against a high-end IR-camera for diabetic foot assessment.

Methods: We acquired plantar IR images of feet of 32 participants with a current or recently healed DFU with the smartphone-based FLIR-One and the high-end FLIR-SC305. Contralateral temperature differences of the entire plantar foot and nine pre-specified regions were compared for validation. Intra-class correlations coefficient (ICC(3,1)) and Bland-Altman plots were used to test agreement. Clinical validity was assessed by calculating statistical measures of diagnostic performance.

Results: Almost perfect agreement was found for temperature measurements in both the entire plantar foot and the combined pre-specified regions, respectively, with ICC values of 0.987 and 0.981, Bland-Altman plots' mean Δ = -0.14 and Δ = -0.06. Diagnostic accuracy showed 94% and 93% sensitivity, and 86% and 91% specificity.

Conclusions: The smartphone-based IR-camera shows excellent validity for diabetic foot assessment.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus; Diabetic foot; Foot ulcer; Smartphone; Temperature; Thermal infrared.