Unlike passive infrared (IR) thermal imaging/thermography, where no external stimulation is applied, active dynamic thermography (ADT) results in a high contrast thermal image. In ADT, transient thermal images of the skin surface are captured using an IR thermal camera while the skin surface is stimulated externally, followed by a recovery phase. Upon the application of external stimulation, the presence of stenosis in the carotid artery is expected to differ the recovery rate of the external neck skin surface from the case with no stenosis. In this prospective study, using an external cooling stimulation, the ADT procedure was performed on a total of 54 (N) samples (C: N = 19, 0% stenosis; D1: N = 17, 10%-29% stenosis; D2: N = 18, ≥30% stenosis using Duplex Ultrasound). Analyzing the ADT sequence with a parameter called tissue activity ratio (TAR), the samples were classified using a cut-off value: C versus (D1+D2) and (C + D1) versus D2. As the degree of stenosis increases, the value of the TAR parameter depreciates with a significant difference among the sample groups (C:0.97 ± 0.05, D1:0.80 ± 0.04, D2:0.75 ± 0.02; p < 0.05). Under the two classification scenarios, classification accuracies of 90% and 85%, respectively, were achieved. This study suggests the potential of screening CAS with the proposed ADT procedure.

中文翻译：

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主动动态热成像技术可检测颈动脉中是否存在狭窄。

与不应用外部刺激的被动红外（IR）热成像/热成像不同，主动动态热成像（ADT）产生高对比度的热图像。在ADT中，使用IR热像仪捕获皮肤表面的瞬态热图像，同时从外部刺激皮肤表面，然后进行恢复阶段。在施加外部刺激后，颈动脉中狭窄的存在有望与没有狭窄的情况不同，从而使颈外皮肤表面的恢复率有所不同。在这项前瞻性研究中，使用外部冷却刺激，对总共54（N）个样品进行了ADT程序（C：N = 19，狭窄度为0％； D1：N = 17，狭窄度为10％-29％； D2 ：N = 18，使用双工超声狭窄≥30％）。使用称为组织活性比（TAR）的参数分析ADT序列，使用临界值对样品进行分类：C对（D1 + D2）和（C + D1）对D2。随着狭窄程度的增加，样本组之间的TAR参数值显着下降（C：0.97±0.05，D1：0.80±0.04，D2：0.75±0.02； p <0.05）。在这两种分类方案下，分类精度分别达到90％和85％。这项研究表明，用拟议的ADT程序筛选CAS的潜力。在这两种分类方案下，分类精度分别达到90％和85％。这项研究表明，采用拟议的ADT程序筛查CAS的潜力。在这两种分类方案下，分类精度分别达到90％和85％。这项研究表明，采用拟议的ADT程序筛查CAS的潜力。