Three-dimensional observation of wound temperature in primary healing.

In a group of 30 patients the temperature in the epigastric region was followed pre-operatively for four days. After upper medial laparotomy the temperature of the wound and its surroundings was followed during eight post-operative days. Thus every examinee was a control to himself. The temperature was measured on AGA 780 thermovision system. The advantages of thermovision in observing temperature in primary healing are manifold. The method is painless, non-contact, thereby decreasing the risk of contamination from outside, gives an absolutely accurate image of temperature over a larger or smaller area, and analysis of the thermogram is relatively simple. The defining of the healing process as thermal change in intensity, extensiveness and time is, in essence, three-dimensional. It gives the possibility of accurate indirect observation of biochemical and chemico-physical changes in the wound and its surroundings.