Aplicações da Termografia Médica em Cirurgia Plástica - O que já foi feito e Futuras Perspectivas

Abstract

Introduction Medical Thermography, provided with the ability to non-invasively assess tissue thermoregulation, gives the possibility to create a body image, allowing inferences to be made about physiological and pathological processes that develop on skin surface. Its applications in Plastic Surgery are broad, being some areas where this technique has gained increasing attention summarized in this paper. Methods A literature search on PubMed was conducted in September 2020, as well as a scan of the included studies' reference lists in order to search for additional relevant citations. The search strategy was sensitive to texts and abstracts, using the following query: "((thermography) and (plastic surgery)) and ((burns) or (skin lesions) or (flap surgery))". Results The present literature review displayed the applications of medical thermography in Plastic Surgery, more specifically in the context of the diagnosis of skin lesions of uncertain malignancy, in the assessment of burn depth and, finally, in the preoperative selection of perforators for free flaps in breast reconstruction and its intra and postoperative monitoring. Conclusion Modern Thermography is now a reliable, valuable non-invasive tool in Plastic Surgery clinical practice.