| ISSN |
1949-8470 (online) |
| Open Access |
This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
| Copyright |
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2026. No commercial re-use. See permissions. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. |
| Article Reprints |
For details, please visit: http://www.wjgnet.com/bpg/gerinfo/247
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| Permissions |
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| Publisher |
Baishideng Publishing Group Inc, 7041 Koll Center Parkway, Suite 160, Pleasanton, CA 94566, USA |
| Website |
http://www.wjgnet.com |
| Category |
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging |
| Manuscript Type |
Retrospective Study |
| Article Title |
Infrared thermography as adjunctive imaging in spine surgery: Evaluating thermal asymmetry for predicting symptomatic level and recovery
|
| Manuscript Source |
Invited Manuscript |
| All Author List |
Sathish Muthu, Kavya Priyadharshini Natarajan, Vibhu Krishnan Viswanathan, Dhibin Vikash Kolarpatti Ponnusamy, Rajappan Chandra Satish Kumar, Khan Sharun and Hyun Jun Jang |
| ORCID |
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| Funding Agency and Grant Number |
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| Corresponding Author |
Sathish Muthu, Assistant Professor, MD, PhD, Central Research Laboratory, Meenakshi Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Raasi Nagar, Karrapettai Post, Enathur, Kanchipuram 631552, Tamil Nādu, India. drsathishmuthu@gmail.com |
| Key Words |
Infrared thermography; Spine surgery; Neural decompression; Thermal asymmetry; Fusion |
| Core Tip |
Infrared thermography (IRT) provides a novel, non-invasive biomarker for assessing symptomatic spinal levels and recovery after surgery. In this retrospective study, IRT demonstrated strong preoperative concurrence with clinical localization and meaningful postoperative normalization, particularly following transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion and decompression procedures. Female sex, single-level stenosis, and transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion surgery predicted favorable normalization, while multilevel disease hindered recovery. These findings highlight IRT’s potential as an adjunctive imaging tool to objectively evaluate adequacy of decompression and neural recovery, addressing a critical gap in postoperative spine surgery assessment. |
| Publish Date |
2026-03-26 05:51 |
| Citation |
Muthu S, Natarajan KP, Viswanathan VK, Kolarpatti Ponnusamy DV, Satish Kumar RC, Sharun K, Jang HJ. Infrared thermography as adjunctive imaging in spine surgery: Evaluating thermal asymmetry for predicting symptomatic level and recovery. World J Radiol 2026; 18(3): 116736 |
| URL |
https://www.wjgnet.com/1949-8470/full/v18/i3/116736.htm |
| DOI |
https://dx.doi.org/10.4329/wjr.v18.i3.116736 |
