Skin temperature after surgery as indication for wound infection in cows

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to measure local thermo activity around the incision after a surgical procedure. Warmth in the wound area can be detected by measuring the skin temperature by infrared thermography. The skin temperature is influenced by, among other things, (patho-) physiologic processes in the skin or in deeper tissue layers of the body. Could the skin temperature be a predictive value for the occurrence of wound inflammation or infection? The variation between different skin temperature measurements in this study was too large to be a predictive value for both wound infection and rectal temperature. Environmental factors, the way of data collection and changes in cow metabolism may have an impact on the large variation of the skin temperature, rectal temperature and degree of wound infection.