Research ArticleOpen Access

The Infrared Thermal Image and Citokine Il-6 in the Affective Diagnosis of Patients with Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases

Volume 4 - Issue 5

David A Rodríguez Medina¹*, Benjamín Domínguez Trejo², Patricia Cortés Esteban², Irving Cruz Albarrán³, Luis A Morales Hernández³ , Gerardo Leija Alva⁴, Sandra Vergara Aguirre⁵, Omar Chavarría Santiago¹, Carolina Carreño Morales¹, Sara K Pluma Verde¹ and Li Erandi Tepepa¹

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- ¹Division of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Universidad National Autónoma de México
- ²National Medical Center 20 de Noviembre, Institute de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado, México
- ³Postgraduate in Mechatronics, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro, México
- ⁴Interdisciplinary Center of Health Sciences, Institute Politécnico National,México
- ⁵School of Higher Studies Zaragoza, Universidad National Autónoma de México
*Corresponding author: David A Rodríguez Medina, Division of Research and Postgraduate Studies, Faculty of Psychology, Universidad National Autónoma de México, Mexico

Received: May 18, 2018; Published: May 23, 2018

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.04.001102

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Abstract

Peripheral temperature is a useful measure for the evaluation of sympathetic/parasympathetic activity. A non-invasive tool that allows evaluating the peripheral temperature of a patient without contact with the skin is the infrared thermal image (iTF). Various negative affective states (pain, anxiety, depression, anger, alexithymia, social isolation) increase sympathetic activity (decreasing peripheral temperature) and thereby increase pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) which has been linked to affective alterations; while relaxation promotes parasympathetic activity (increasing peripheral temperature). We present the bio psychosocial evaluation of six patients with different concentrations of IL-6 with diagnoses of chronic non communicable diseases, their iTF pre-post psycho physiological intervention in relaxation and their psychological profile for affective diagnosis. Patients with a higher level of peripheral temperature (hands, nose) or ability to increase it, showed a psychosocial profile without emotional disturbances. In contrast, the patients with the highest level of IL-6 concentration showed the lowest peripheral temperature in the hands and did not manage to increase it after the relaxation strategy. The iTF allows assessing the autonomic activity associated with various affective states. If the patient increases his peripheral temperature after relaxation, he has a better clinical prognosis than the patient who does not.

Keywords: Thermography; Interleukin 6; Relaxation; Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases