Case ReportMedical Infrared Thermography assistance in the surgical treatment of axillary Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A case report

- We used a Medical Infrared Thermography tool to assist the surgeon in the surgical treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa inflammatory disease.
- The advantage of the medical infrared thermography is to allow the optimization of the presurgical mapping of lesion with adequate free margins.
- The advantage of medical infrared thermography is to be used like a control tool after excision surgery if all the affected tissues are removed.
- This study was therefore conducted as an effort to fill this knowledge gap.
- We suggest that medical infrared thermography assessment be better performed with more case surgery.

BackgroundThe purpose of this case report is to highlight for the first time the way Medical Infrared Thermography can be a helpful tool to assist the surgeon in the surgical treatment of Hidradenitis Suppurativa inflammatory disease.MethodsA 36-year-old man with a 7-year history of Hidradenitis Suppurativa presented inflammatory nodules in the left axilla area corresponding to Hurley stage II. Choice is made to surgically treat this patient using a wide excision protocol combined with a postoperative second intention healing. For the study purpose, an IR FLIR SC620 camera (FLIR Systems, Wilsonville, OR), having a high resolution pixel detector of 640 × 480 pixels for greater accuracy and higher resolution, has been used.ResultsFor the first time in the literature, this case report on HS disease supports the idea that real-time medical infrared thermography may be helpful in establishing the true extent of disease preoperatively in the surgical room and in a similar manner, that this technique allows the surgeon to ensure all diseased lesions are removed during surgery.ConclusionsAt least, medical infrared thermography seems to be a powerful tool to control the final wide surgical wound, in order to minimize recurrence risk of such a disease.