Thermal Imaging to Identify Distinct Temperature Patterns in Various Stages of Pressure Ulcers

This study will be a single-center prospective Phase I study in which the use of a thermal imaging camera will be used to obtain imaging data on decubitus ulcers of various stages. The data collected during this study will be used to determine if stage-specific thermal distribution patterns can be identified. This information will then be used to design future studies in which patients are risk for the development of pressure ulcers are screened for the presence of pressure ulcers not detectable upon physical examination so that preventative measures and treatments can be instituted.

A total of 40 patients with pressure decubitus ulcers will be recruited for inclusion in this study. The investigators plan to enroll ten patients with each stage of pressure ulcer (i.e. Stage I-IV), which will provide the investigators with a set of thermal imaging data from which the investigators will determine if thermal distribution patterns unique to each stage of pressure ulcer can be identified. It is anticipated that 40 patients who meet the inclusion criteria and distribution of pressure ulcer staging will be enrolled within one year of the start date of this study.

The investigators are planning a study of a continuous response variable from independent control and experimental subjects with 1 control(s) per experimental subject. It is estimated that the response within each subject group will be normally distributed with standard deviation 25. If the true difference in the experimental and control means is 35, the investigators will need to study 9 experimental subjects and 9 control subjects to be able to reject the null hypothesis that the population means of the experimental and control groups are equal with probability (power) 0.8. The Type I error probability associated with this test of this null hypothesis is 0.05.