Assessment of Pain and Inflammation in Domestic Animals Using Infrared Thermography: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Simple Summary Current acute pain assessment protocols in domestic animals require the use of a suite of methods to evaluate the multidimensional components of pain. Thermal imaging is a method that assesses the physiological response, via heat production, to a noxious stimulus. This may correlate with the affective experience of acute pain. Since the use of the method as a pain assessment tool is still in its relative infancy and has yet to be fully evaluated empirically, the present review brings together current knowledge on the use of infrared thermography to evaluate acute pain in animals. We also propose future directions in this area of research. Pain assessment in domestic animals has gained importance in recent years due to the recognition of the physiological, behavioral, and endocrine consequences of acute pain on animal production, welfare, and animal model validity. Current approaches to identifying acute pain mainly rely on behavioral-based scales, quantifying pain-related biomarkers, and the use of devices monitoring sympathetic activity. Infrared thermography is an alternative that could be used to correlate the changes in the superficial temperature with other tools and thus be an additional or alternate acute pain assessment marker. Moreover, its non-invasiveness and the objective nature of its readout make it potentially very valuable. However, at the current time, it is not in widespread use as an assessment strategy. The present review discusses scientific evidence for infrared thermography as a tool to evaluate pain, limiting its use to monitor acute pain in pathological processes and invasive procedures, as well as its use for perioperative monitoring in domestic animals.