Pachyderm Leg Ailment Diagnosis with Infrared Thermal Imaging
by Jeff Lebold
Boldstar Infrared Services
Oshawa, ON, Canada
Vance, a 29-yaer-old pachyderm who brings many visitors to the Bowmansville Zoo, was exhibiting symptoms of leg troubles. Thanks to the increasingly popular method of diagnosing health problems with a thermal imager, Vance was throughly examined and properly treated.
Zoo curators Wendy Korver and Michael Hackenberger had been noticing Vance's reluctance to apply his full weight on his front right leg. But they couldn’t determine exactly what part of Vance’s large right leg was under strain, as irritation in either of the foot, knee or hip joints would all cause Vance to favor the his left leg as he was doing. An attempt to use a thermal imager as a method of pinpointing the location of Vance’s leg woes was suggested. Pictures from a thermal imager could pinpoint the exact location of irritated, inflamed tissue and offer great advantages to the Zoo owners and veterinary staff looking to correct the elephant’s condition. Thermal imagers are widely accepted in the equine field for diagnosis of various conditions in horses, but can be used with all different kinds of animals. Infrared thermal imagers are capable of detecting small surface temperature differences. By displaying the temperature differences within an image, thermal imagers can zero in on inflamed and irritated tissue which would be invisible to the naked eye.
An infrared thermal imager was turned on and pointed at Vance. The thermal imager indicated that Vance’s right front leg was indeed the problem because it was “operating” at an elevated temperature. A closer look and a few adjustments of the thermal imager's temperature spans for better temperature resolution indicated the source of the troubles.
|
|
|
Using the crystal clear images from the exam with the thermal imager, veterinarians were able to determine that Vance had a sore front right foot. Thermal images of the bottom of Vance’s huge front feet were also taken to rule out any foreign object concerns such as a nail or sharp stick as the cause of the front foot irritation. The images of the bottoms of Vance’s feet did not indicate any irritation, leaving Vance’s veterinary staff to concentrate on the front right foot condition. Further inspection of Vance’s bulky frame also located a smaller irritation on Vance’s rear right foot and front left shoulder. Zoologists suspect that both conditions are linked to the front right foot condition and Vance’s recent favoring of the leg. Zoo caretakers have developed a proactive plan that addresses Vance’s health needs. A thermal imager will be used in follow up examinations to study and determine how effective the treatment is.
For more information on thermal imagers, please visit http://www.flirthermography.com/cameras/all_cameras.asp.