Análise do uso da termografia no acompanhamento de patologias degenerativas da coluna vertebral tratadas com bloqueio anestésico - resultados preliminares / Analyze the use of thermography as an auxiliary technique tto follow up degenerative pathologies of the vertebral spine teated with anesthetic block

RESUMO

The following study hereby is intended to analyse the use of thermography as an auxiliary technique to follow up degenerative pathologies of the Vertebral spine treated with anesthetic block. Six patients showing a disc degeneration diagnosis were studied four females and to males. Three of these six patients presented a cervical degenerative lesion, and lhe other three revealed a lumbar degeneration. The patients underwent anesthetic blocks in the sinusvertebral nerve, posterior branch, and posterior apophysis infiltrations. In this medical process, bupivacaina 0.5 was used without a constrictor vein, combined with betametasone, with 1.5 mg of betametasone acetate and 1.5 mg ol betametasone dissodical phosphate. Thermography was used in two occasions before the anesthetic procedure, and 15 minutes after the block. To obtain lhe thermography images, an Agema thermovision 550 system was utilized, with 0.1°C sensibility, emissivity adjustment of 0.98, and focal distance of 1 meter. The results acquired with the thermography technique have made it clear that areas next to the vertebral spine of patients with disc degeneration present regions with different levels of infrared emission, which undergo thermal alterations after lhe anesthetic block has been applied. The conclusion is that the thermography technique procedure may be useful as a suitable method to estimate degenerative pathologies of the vertebral spine treated with anesthetic block