Thermal Imaging - Any experiences?

spike123

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a friend had a veterinary thermal imaging done on her horse with a reputable company (not the one you've mentioned) and although it found a few little things nothing major was found. Horse turned out to have kissing spines and was recently put to sleep as couldn't be helped.
 

BBP

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OsoThermal16114_zps1151d87e.jpg

Sacroiliac injury found on bone scan, the after treatment scan was green. So works for me. I have an attachment for my iPhone now so I can check for anything drastic myself and call vet if it concerns me. Obviously to be done under controlled conditions.
 

philamena

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It is definitely useful when done by good practitioners for the right kinds of investigations. It's not an alternative to all the other kinds of more involved veterinary scans. But identifying a source of pain when you're struggling to locate the root of an issue? Yes, it is definitely worth a try. While it will only show things which create inflammation / an inflammatory reaction which reaches the surface, and therefore it can miss things and should never be used to diagnose any part of the body as issue-free, it can give you really helpful positive results which help you narrow down areas for further investigation, and this can save lots of time, money and frustration chasing a problem round the body.
A useful tool, used in the right way and without making unrealistic promises.
 

Kathy657

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OsoThermal16114_zps1151d87e.jpg

Sacroiliac injury found on bone scan, the after treatment scan was green. So works for me. I have an attachment for my iPhone now so I can check for anything drastic myself and call vet if it concerns me. Obviously to be done under controlled
conditions.
I've also bought one of those too.
 

BBP

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I like mine, although it would be very easy to panic yourself over every little detail if you don't fully understand the environmental and other factors that may affect it. I try to compare sides for how symmetrical they are but again it's easy to not take outside factors in to account. Worryingly mine is now showing me the same hot spots as the above photo. My gut feeling is that sacroiliac is playing up but vets want to wait until ulcer treatment is complete to reassess.
 

Tnavas

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Not worth the money

Totally disagree, having seen it in use for over 20 years, and used it on my own horses its marvellous. When an injury generates pain that can't be pinpointed it shows the location of the heat brilliantly.

I hope that one day you will realise this as you miss out on a wonderful diagnostic tool
 

Tnavas

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Sacroiliac injury found on bone scan, the after treatment scan was green. So works for me. I have an attachment for my iPhone now so I can check for anything drastic myself and call vet if it concerns me. Obviously to be done under controlled conditions.

Have you details of the attachment for the phone please?
 

philamena

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I think they mean the FLiR. To be honest I looked into it and a few friends bought them and don't rave about them... so I decided there was no way I'd trust it enough not to get someone in with a proper camera if I had suspicions, and knew I'd end up getting a load of false positives just because there's no way it can be sensitive enough IMO, so I could see thermography hypochondria kicking in pretty quickly in my case!!!
Though plumbers and builders love it for finding pipes behind walls and under floors and stuff... and insulation people looking to see where heat's escaping. Interested to hear if anyone else has had great results from one...!
 

philamena

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I like mine, although it would be very easy to panic yourself over every little detail if you don't fully understand the environmental and other factors that may affect it. I try to compare sides for how symmetrical they are but again it's easy to not take outside factors in to account. Worryingly mine is now showing me the same hot spots as the above photo. My gut feeling is that sacroiliac is playing up but vets want to wait until ulcer treatment is complete to reassess.

Thanks for the reply. Interesting - will be interesting to know what you find out. Hope it's something simple. Thing is while I do know a fair bit about how the surroundings etc can affect the result, I know I'd keep thinking I see things and freaking myself out. Am interested though in how people get on with it over the longer term as can see that even if it's pretty crude as an instrument, seeing a pattern over time sounds like it could be useful information... rather than taking any one reading too seriously... Hmmm...
 

BBP

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I've decided to get the pro photographer out to take some to compare to what mine is telling me. If hers says his sacroiliac is fine then mine isn't so helpful. If hers says it's hot again I can go back to the vet with a bit more conviction and can also believe what it says a bit more. I'll try to load some photos for you to see. It's very rough compared to the pro cameras!
 

BBP

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Horse 1:
image_zps3kdnznjy.jpg

Horse 2:
image_zps4u6mn5ef.jpg

Horse 3:
image_zpsrb5cbxby.jpg


Horse 3 has a much shorter coat but differences were similar even in summer coats. To me it at least gives food for thought to talk to the vet about.
 

philamena

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Thanks for the pics. It'll be really interesting to see a like for like comparison won't it, between the phone camera and the professional, if you can take them all at the same time. It feels like that's the kind of comparison you really need to know how much to trust it. It's certainly seeing something, but I think I'd have panicked about any of those pictures (wholly irrational horse hypochondriac, me, which is why I'm reluctant...!) so will be really interested to hear how you get on comparing the two lots of pics...!
 

BBP

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I'll keep you posted! This rough version shows you the hottest and coldest areas in a photo, but if you zoom in and out what was white (and so 'hot') in one image might be red or less in another as its up against an area with thinner hair, more blood vessels near the surface etc). So it's not an absolute temperature. I think you are wise to be cautious! I've just emailed the pro lady so once she's been I will update!
 
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