Method for quantitative estimation of thermal thresholds in patients

J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1976 Nov;39(11):1071-5. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.39.11.1071.

Abstract

A quantitative method for the examination of thermal sensibility was applied in 26 normal subjects and in patients with various neurological disorders. The stimulation technique resembled Békésy audiometry: the patient reversed the direction of the temperature change of a thermode whenever warm, cold, or thermal pain thresholds were reached. The resulting temperature curve enables a quantitative description of the subject's thermal sensibility and of the degree of impairment displayed by neurological patients.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Abdomen / physiology
  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Central Nervous System Diseases / complications*
  • Cheek / physiology
  • Differential Threshold*
  • Female
  • Foot / physiology
  • Functional Laterality
  • Hand / physiology
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Pain / etiology
  • Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / complications*
  • Reaction Time
  • Thermosensing*