Thermographic Imaging for Interventional Pain Management

Measuring pain intensity is a major objective in pain therapy. Unfortunately, we have not been able to develop tools to do so until today, hence, it is very difficult to judge if the therapy offered to a patient is effective or not. In certain states of pain, i.e. neuropathic and sympathetically maintained pain, blocks to the sympathetic nervous system are effective. They may provide dramatic relief to patients, though there is no way of demonstrating whether the alleviation results from blocking other structures than the sympathetic nervous system. Since the sympathetic trunk is involved in the regulation of skin blood flow, a rise in the skin temperature is anticipated when performing sympathetic blocks. The pattern of changes in skin temperature provides us with precious information on the success of the intervention next to the patient's subjective impression. There is a demand for tools that rate pain intensity and alleviation after procedures applied in pain therapy. Ideally, these procedures are objective, patient-independent, and may be performed easily, without causing further harm to the patient's health.