Fais Paolo, Mazzotti Maria Carla, Montisci Massimo, Palazzo Chiara, Leone Ornella, Cecchetto Giovanni, Viel Guido, Pelotti Susi
DIMEC, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
Legal Medicine and Toxicology, University Hospital of Padova, Via Falloppio, 50, 35121, Padova, Italy.
Int J Legal Med. 2019 Mar;133(2):571-581. doi: 10.1007/s00414-018-1935-0. Epub 2018 Sep 14.
Thermal imaging (TI) allows the detection of thermal patterns emitted from objects as a function of their temperature in the long-infrared spectrum and produces visible images displaying temperature differences. The aim of this pilot study was to test TI to visualize the coronary circulation of swine hearts. Thirty swine hearts were prepared for ex situ coronarography, and thermal images were acquired through a FlirOne thermal camera (FLIR Systems®) paired with a Google Android Smartphone. Coronary arteries were cannulated, namely the anterior interventricular artery, the circumflex branch of the left coronary artery, and the right coronary artery. The heart was cooled, and contrast medium (CM) consisting of distilled water heated to 40 °C was injected in a coronary vessel, while thermal images were captured. These steps were repeated for each coronary vessel and under experimentally simulated coronary heart disease. Thermal imaging coronarography (TIC) allowed a clear representation of the morphology and course of the coronary vessels and of experimentally simulated coronary heart disease, moreover, demonstrated to be easy to perform during or after autopsies on ex situ hearts, non-destructive, reproducible, and cheap. On the basis of these preliminary results, TIC might allow a subsequent more focused and comprehensive cardiopathological examination of the heart, which remains mandatory for the definitive diagnosis of coronary heart disease. Although these preliminary results seem encouraging, further systematic studies on human hearts, both normal and pathological, are necessary for estimating the sensitivity and specificity of the proposed method and to draw any definitive conclusion.
热成像（TI）能够检测物体在长红外光谱中根据其温度发射出的热模式，并生成显示温度差异的可见图像。这项初步研究的目的是测试TI能否使猪心脏的冠状动脉循环可视化。准备了30个猪心脏用于体外冠状动脉造影，并通过与谷歌安卓智能手机配对的FlirOne热成像相机（FLIR Systems®）获取热图像。对冠状动脉进行插管，即前室间动脉、左冠状动脉回旋支和右冠状动脉。心脏被冷却，将加热至40°C的蒸馏水组成的造影剂（CM）注入冠状动脉血管，同时采集热图像。对每个冠状动脉血管以及在实验模拟的冠心病情况下重复这些步骤。热成像冠状动脉造影（TIC）能够清晰显示冠状动脉血管的形态和走行以及实验模拟的冠心病，此外，还证明在对体外心脏进行尸检期间或之后易于操作、无损、可重复且成本低廉。基于这些初步结果，TIC可能允许随后对心脏进行更有针对性和全面的心脏病理学检查，这对于冠心病的明确诊断仍然是必不可少的。尽管这些初步结果似乎令人鼓舞，但有必要对正常和病理的人类心脏进行进一步的系统研究，以评估所提出方法的敏感性和特异性，并得出任何明确的结论。
