Utility of sonography (echo) and thermography in bedsore care (first report)

Abstract

DESIGN-R is used in the evaluation of bedsore in our hospital. In addition to this evaluation, we verified whether sonography and thermography are useful for bedsore evaluation. We originally devised an echo scoring system on the basis of the literature. Patients in whom a bedsore was found underwent sonography and thermography once a week, and the changes in the DESIGN-R score and echo score over time were determined in correlation with the bedsore size, which was an objective evaluation factor. The DESIGN-R score and echo score were compared among patients and verified. In 6 of 11 patients, the change in the DESIGN-R score over time correlated with bedsore size, and in 8 of 11 patients, the change in the echo score over time also correlated with bedsore size. By thermography, we found that in 4 of 11 patients, the temperature of the bedsore site was higher than that of the normal site. By sonography, we found that in 7 of 11 patients, the temperature of the bedsore site was lower than that of the normal site. The absence of a correlation between the bedsore size and the echo score seemed to affect the scoring, that is, the setting conditions of the sonography were not unified. It is considered that thermography can be used to evaluate inflammation objectively. From the above, we considered that sonography and thermography are useful for the evaluation of the progress of bedsore, in addition to using the DESIGN-R score.