Temperature and biochemical studies of joint inflammation. A preliminary investigation.

The surface pattern of raised skin temperature due to vasodilation over an inflamed joint is well shown by thermography (Cosh, 1966; Cosh and Ring, 1967), but this technique does not easily permit quantitative measurement. In this study, therefore, we have preferred the simpler method of radiometry, which measures the temperature of an area of skin by detection of infra-red radiation. The skin temperature over the patella is an approximate guide to the intra-articular knee temperature, although 2 to 3°C. lower (Lloyd-Williams, 1969). We have shown, for example, that the skin temperature over the patella may fall as much as 3°C. after injection of steroid into an inflamed knee joint (Lloyd-Williams, Ring, and Cosh, 1968) and it is such observations that have prompted us to look for biochemical changes in the synovial fluid associated with the rise or fall of temperature in inflammatory arthritis.

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