Reaction of normal and burned tissue to cold excitation.

This study is devoted to the question if cold excitation may be effectively used in active dynamic thermal imaging for diagnostics of burn depth. The experiments on animals show quantitatively the reaction of healthy and burned pigskin to forced external cold excitation using cryogenic CO(2) rehabilitation instrumentation. The study allows for comparison of thermal transients at the surface of the pigskin for healthy and burned fields of controlled depths. The results are compared to optical excitation and confirm high value of cold stress in ADT and good correlation of heat flow mechanisms and the state (physiology) of the living skin.