Usefulness of thermography in the diagnosis and classification of complex regional pain syndrome

Introduction: We propose a protocol for study of complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) based on a battery of quantitative measures (skin thermography, electrochemical skin conductance and sensory thresholds) and apply such protocol to 5 representative cases of CRPS. Patients and methods: 5 CPRS cases (2 women/3 men) that met the Budapest criteria for the diagnosis of CRPS. Results: All patients showed spontaneous pain and allodynia. Two cases correspond to a stage I, in both the resting basal temperature was increased in the affected limb. Three cases reflect more advanced stages with a decrease in resting temperature and a delay in the recovery of the temperature when compared to contralateral limb. Discussion: These non-invasive quantitative functional tests not only improve the diagnostic accuracy of CRPS but also, they help us to stratify and understand the pathological processes of the disease. (C) 2020 Sociedad Espanola de Neurologia. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).