Infrared thermography as adjunctive imaging in spine surgery: Evaluating thermal asymmetry for predicting symptomatic level and recovery

Table 1 Characteristics of patients included in the study, mean ± SD/n (%)

Category	Subcategory
Age (years)		66.3 ± 10.7
Sex	Male	22 (63.6)
	Female	13 (36.4)
Multilevel disease	Present	22 (63.6)
	Absent	13 (36.4)
Diagnosis	Stenosis	18 (51.5)
	Listhesis	6 (18.2)
	OPLL	4 (12.1)
	Other (CSM, PJF, trauma)	7 (18.2)
Procedure type	PLIF	17 (48.5)
	Decompression only	10 (27.3)
	TLIF	5 (15.2)
	OLIF/ACDF/UBE	3 (9)
Thermography concurrence	Yes	26 (78.8)
	No	7 (21.2)
Thermography normalization	Yes	22 (63.6)
	No	13 (36.4)

OPLL: Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament; CSM: Cervical spondylotic myelopathy; PJF: Proximal junctional failure; PLIF: Posterior lumbar interbody fusion; TLIF: Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion; OLIF: Oblique lumbar interbody fusion; ACDF: Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion; UBE: Unilateral biportal endoscopy.

Table 2 Regression analysis to predict thermography normalization post-surgery

Predictor	Coefficient (β)	Odds ratio	95%CI	P value
Age (per year)	-0.02	0.98	0.94-1.02	0.28
Sex (female)	+0.85	2.34	1.01-5.42	0.048
Diagnosis: Stenosis	+1.12	3.06	1.18-7.92	0.021
Diagnosis: Listhesis	-0.44	0.64	0.21-1.96	0.42
Procedure: TLIF	+1.39	4.01	1.02-15.72	0.046
Procedure: PLIF	Reference
Multilevel disease	-0.77	0.46	0.19-1.12	0.09

TLIF: Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion; PLIF: Posterior lumbar interbody fusion; CI: Confidence interval.