Thermographic analysis of laparotomy wounds
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Infrared thermographic analysis of laparotomy wounds as a predictor of wound complications
IRAS ID
170567
Contact name
Dileep N Lobo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Nottingham
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
Infrared thermography (IRT) is a technique which can remotely map body surface temperature by measuring the infrared thermal radiation emission of an object. Wound healing is known to proceed through three stages: inflammatory, fibroblastic followed by remodelling phases which have previously been shown to correspond to characteristic temperature changes in the wound and surrounding skin. One of the cardinal signs of surgical wound infection is increased temperature of the wound and surrounding skin. This study aims to establish the use of IRT in the early detection of surgical wound infection following laparotomy to facilitate early treatment of wound infection to expedite discharge home.
This study focuses on patients who have undergone a laparotomy incision as an elective procedure, irrespective of the indication for surgery, and can be either a midline or upper abdominal incision. All adult patients aged between 18 and 80 years undergoing relevant surgery and planned primary wound closure who are able to give informed consent to participation would be eligible for inclusion in the study.
This will be a single centre observational cohort study conducted at a large teaching hospital which acts as both a tertiary referral centre for multiple general surgical specialities as well as a level one major trauma centre.
Patients will be recruited following informed consent prior to initial surgery and a baseline thermographic image of the abdomen obtained. Following surgery, a single thermographic image of the abdominal wound will be obtained on a daily basis, at the same time of day and in the same place, for 10 days after the date of surgery, or until the patient is discharged from hospital, whichever is sooner. Data will also be collated on wound healing and septic complications and two correlated to analyse the predictive value of thermographic changes for early wound infection.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 1 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EM/0514
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion