Thermographic differential diagnosis of acute tonsillitis and exacerbation of chronic tonsillitis.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To elaborate the thermosemiotics of acute and chronic tonsillitis during exacerbation. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: 48 patients with acute tonsillitis and 19 patients with chronic tonsillitis were examined during disease exacerbation. Thermographic examination was carried out by the medical thermometer TI-120. Statistical processing of data was carried out with computer program "Microsoft Excel" and "Statistica for Windows" v. 6.0, StatSoft Inc. (USA). RESULTS: Results: Symmetry, homogeneity and isotherm are normal thermographic features of the skin. Presence of hyperthermia in carotid triangle, on the palms were revealed in patients with acute tonsillitis. In chronic tonsillitis in the stage of exacerbation, a moderate overall «warming up¼ of the neck and projections of the submandibular lymph nodes was also observed. The average temperature indices of the knee joints were statistically significantly higher than the corresponding values in healthy people °C (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Conclusion: Only in patients with acute tonsillitis clear strong positive correlation between the temperature of half of the submandibular area and warming in the center of the palm - r = 0.812 ... 0.859 (P<0.01) and in the middle of the tenar on the corresponding side - r = 0.790 ... 0.827 (P<0.01) was observed. Only in the case of chronic tonsillitis, in the stage of exacerbation, the temperature difference over the knees and the lower part of the femur is always greater than 0.5 ºC.