THERMOGRAPHIC AND SONOGRAPHIC FINDINGS IN PATIENTS WITH KNEE PAIN: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY FOR THE PERIOD JANUARY 2010 TO JULY 2023.

Our study is a retrospective study in which, from the total number of patients who were admitted to our institution for knee pain between January 2010 and July 2023, we selected only those who had a positive sonographic finding and were also examined thermographically. The total number of selected patients was 727. Of these, 321 were females and 406 were males aged 11 to 91 years. The mean age was 45 years. The number of positive sonographic findings was 2040. According to the nature of sonographic findings we divided them into: findings with liquid content (gangliomas, cysts, bursae, hydrops, haemarthrosis...) - total 36%. Findings of solid structure (calcifications, ossifications, osteophytes, mucoids, tophi, corpora libera) - 25% in total. Arthrosis femorotibial, femoropatellar - a total of 20%. Lesions (meniscopathies, tendinopathies, ruptures of tendons, muscles, ligaments, fractures, abruptions, usurations) - a total of 17%. Complications after TEP - 1%. Other (growing pains, plicae, chondrocalcinosis, aseptic osteonecrosis, tumors, nerve lesions) - 2% total. Of the 727 patients with sonographic abnormalities, 72% had a temperature distribution disorder. Of these, 67% of patients had hyperthermia of the painful knee, 5% had hypothermia. 28% of patients had a normal temperature pattern of the symptomatic knee compared to the contralateral knee.