Termografia da face de crianças respiradoras orais e nasais

Abstract

Introduction: mouth breathing is a prevalent disorder in childhood, which has as consequence alteration in the muscle of the lips. Infrared thermography, is an interesting option to assess the child population, as it is safe and does not cause discomfort nor emit radiation. It is believed that thermography of the face and lips can help in the orofacial myology diagnosis and follow-up. Objective: 1) to describe the facial spatial temperature distribution of nose breathing children; 2) verify if the thermoanatomical points described for adults in the literature are easily viewed in nose breathing children; 3) to compare the results of the mean temperature of the thermoanatomical points of the face of nose breathing children between sexes; 4) to compare the temperature of the thermoanatomical points and areas of lips between mouth and nose breathing children. Methods: Cross-sectional observational study of 30 nose-breathing and 30 mouth breathing children of both sexes aged 4 to 11 years. Front view, right side view, and left side view thermogram of each participant were recorded. The mean temperatures of 14 anatomical thermal points in the front view thermogram and 12 points in the side view and lip areas were assessed. A visual qualitative analysis of the images was performed, in addition to a descriptive analysis, and calculation of the ∆T (difference between the two sides of the face). Intra- and interrater agreement analyses of point assessment were made using the intraclass correlation coefficient. Temperatures were compared between sexes of nasal breathers, and temperatures of nose and mouth breathers using the T and Mann Whitney tests. In addition, the difference between the temperature of the upper and lower lip area (∆T area) and between the points located on the upper lip with those on the lower lip (∆T points) of mouth and nose breathers were compared using the same tests. Results: Medial Palpebral Commissure point had the highest temperature in the front view thermogram and Temporal point in the side view. The Supratrochlear point is not a point that stands out on the face of children. ∆T was greater than 0.3 for most points. The warmest regions were forehead, eyes and perioral region and the coldest, nose, cheeks and chin region. The analysis of intra- and inter-rater agreement in the assessment of points ranged from good to excellent. No temperature difference was found between the sexes. It was found that the thermoanatomical points closest to the lip, areas of the lips and External Acoustic Meatus presented lower temperature in mouth breathers than in nose ones. There was no difference between the groups in ∆T area and points. Conclusion: nose breathing children presented the forehead, eyes and perioral region as the hottest regions. The thermoanatomical points found in children are similar to those on the adult population, except for the Supratrochlear point, which does not stand out. Nose breathers showed thermal asymmetry and there was no difference between the sexes. Mouth breathing children have lower temperature in the region of the lips than nose breathing children.