Comparison of Thermal Foot Maps between Diabetic Patients with Neuropathic, Vascular, Neurovascular, and No Complications

Background: Diabetes mellitus is a public health problem worldwide. The diabetic foot has a degenerate vascular structure, and its patients present neurological problems, which require the earliest possible identification. Introduction: The objective of the research was to use infrared thermography to analyze the temperature difference of the feet of users with diabetes mellitus with neuropathy, vasculopathy, neurovascular disease, or none of them, segmenting the sole of the foot in four areas for the study. Methods: A type of descriptive, cross-sectional and observational study was developed in a group of 277 patients with diabetic pathology (138 men and 139 women), with an average age of 63.41 ± 17.69 years and a body mass index of 29.08 ± 5.86, delimited in four groups: 22 (7.94%) with neuropathy, 32 (11.55%) with vasculopathy, 83 (29.96%) with neurovasculopathy and 140 (50.54%) without previous pathology. Thus, almost half of the sample (49.46%) presented some type of complication (neuropathic, vasculopathic or both). The photographic images were made with an infrared camera model FLIR E60bx®. The data obtained were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 22 statistical program. Results: There were lower temperatures under the 1st metatarsal head, the 5th metatarsal head, the heel, and pulp of the big toe of both left and right feet of the patients in the neuropathy, vasculopathy, and neurovasculopathy groups relative to the group with neither pathology. Conclusion: Infrared thermography can be useful in assessing the foot at risk to reveal the variability of temperature according to the study area, which may be useful for medical judgment and the predisposition to identify lesions in compromised regions of the foot.