ABSTRACT
Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) is diagnosed by different methods that include: clinical, bone scan, skin conductance response, capillary blood cell velocity, laser doppler fluxmetry, and thermography, and quantitative sweat autonomic response test. Diagnosing RSD without thermography is equivalent to diagnosing a heart attack without Electrocardiography. Infrared telethermography is the most sensitive test in the diagnosis of RSD. It is not an accurate test for other causes of pain such as disc herniation or somatic nerve root dysfunction. The main contribution of thermography to medicine has been its usefulness in early diagnosis of RSD. Thermography, which is a direct measurement of the temperature controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, is most reliable for evaluation of RSD. Thermography is done by measurement of natural infrared emission of human body heat with the help of infrared sensitive camera. A second, less commonly used method, contact thermography, measures minute temperature changes of the skin.
