Clinical study of MT-II, a new liquid crystal thermometer

Abstract

Clinical study of “MT-II”, a new compact oral liquid crystal thermometer, was conducted. I. The values of the 5-minute oral temperature measured with MT-II and mercury thermometer were evaluated. The mean difference between the two values was 0.07±0.09°C (mean±SD, n=186), and significant correlation was observed between them (r=0.946, p<0.001, Y=0.938X+0.364, n=186) . Therefore, it was concluded that MT-II was as accurate as mercury thermometer in measuring oral temperature. II. The accuracy after repeated use of the same MT-II was evaluated. The stable values of oral temperature were obtained, and “in-vitro” precision test also proved the accuracy of the used MT-II. So we concluded that it was possible to get an accurate oral temperature in repeatedly using MT-II within 21 times. III. The values of oral temperature measured with MT-II for 180 sec, 120 sec, 90 sec were compared with those of mercury thermometer for 5 min and were evaluated. The differences between MT-II and mercury thermometer were 0.11±0.07°C, 0.15±0.09°C, 0.19±0.10°C (mean±SD, n=62), respectively. It was suggested that we could efficiently take the index of body temperature by using MT-II orally for 90 sec.