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Veterinary infrared thermography is a completely safe, radiation free technology that involves no contact, compression or discomfort.
The infrared camera is able to visualise and quantify changes in skin surface temperature and to convert this infrared radiation into electrical impulses that are visualised in colour on a monitor. This visual image graphically maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. Advanced diagnostic software provides subsequent mathematical evaluation.
It is a non invasive diagnostic technique that allows the examiner to visualise and quantify changes in skin surface temperature. An infrared camera is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualised in colour on a monitor. This visual image graphically maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. Through the use of advanced diagnostic software, the image can be used to provide a picture of temperature variations as small as .1 (sensitivity 0.08) deg. Thermograms are digitally stored for trend analysis and can be converted into standard imaging formats like BMP or JPG.
Please note, that different colour displays do not exactly show high temperature differences. In the monitor display minor changes are visualised with high colour contrast to facilitate the visual evaluation.
Metabolic processes are naturally dynamic. Within a dynamic process an infrared scan can provide interpretable results only including the dynamic determined parameters and algorithms. A static scan–like common practice in the passive thermography–can only be a snapshot within a quick dynamic process, wherefore it cannot show any viewable or calculable development.
The interpretation of the visual image alone without including the Radiation Laws, Biophotonics and the exact acknowledgement of all existing environment parameters could only be a rough estimate. All these parameters are summarised in the applied metabolic diffusion equation, where the gradient “time” has a role as well. This is the only way to receive physically exact und medically precise results of the infrared scans.
Thermography does not only detect heat, but also the lack of heat, which makes it an excellent tool to locate nerve damage.
In fact this technology can detect problems days, and even weeks before it becomes physically visible. It also detects these problems when masked by drugs. This provides you with the opportunity to treat or change the horse’s routine, minimizing the chances of aggravating an injury, and possibly eliminating downtime. Back problems, subsolar and other abscesses, laminitis, arthritis, and tendonitis, stress fractures and injuries, are just some of the problems that can be detected in their very early stages using thermography.
It shows us where to investigate further to find the underlying problem. Once treatment has been instituted, it shows us how effective the treatment is. And additionally, it helps you monitoring the animal athlete's body to see how well it is adapting to any training it is undergoing. Thus thermography can provide you with much-needed advantage in the competition. By the Thermografie Institut Berlin it has been used at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen to monitor endurance horses performing in the equestrian events.