ABSTRACT
Infrared (IR) imaging in medicine has been used in the past but without the advantage of 21st century technology. In 1994, under the Department of Defense (DOD) grants jointly funded by the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD-S&T), the Defense Advanced Research Projeects Agency (DARPA) and the Army Research Office (ARO), a concerted effort was initiated to re-visit this subject. Specifically, it was to explore the potential of integrating advanced IR technology with “smart” image processing for use in medicine. The major challenges for acceptance of this modality by the medical community were investigated. It was found that the following issues were of prime importance (1) standardization and quantification of clinical data; (2) better understanding of the pathophysiological nature of thermal signatures; (3) wider publication and exposure of medical IR imaging in conferences and leading journals; (4) characterization of thermal signatures through an interactive web-based database; and (5) training in both image acquisition and interpretation.
