A COMPARISON OF 4 INFRARED TYMPANIC THERMOMETERS WITH TYMPANIC MEMBRANE TEMPERATURES MEASURED BY THERMOCOUPLES

Purpose: To compare measurements made with four infrared tympanic ther mometers (Genius(R), Thermopit(R), Quickthermo(R), and Thermoscan(R)) with those recorded from thermo couples positioned in the contralatera l ear. Methods: Four tympanic thermometers were evaluated in 50 health y volunteers (12 female and 38 male). Temperatures were measured, in r andom order, at the right tympanic membrane four times and the highest temperature was considered to be the true value measured by each ther mometer. The control temperature was measured at the left tympanic mem brane using Mon-a-Therm(R) thermocouples. Results: The tympanic membra ne temperature measured by Genius(R) correlated best with the Mon-a-th erm(R) measurement (TM) (r = 0.74). The tympanic membrane temperatures measured by Thermopit(R), Quickthemo(R), and Thermoscan(R) correlated moderately with TM (r = 0.56, 0.63, and 0.58, respectively). Mean dif ferences between TM and each temperature (TG, TTP, TQ, and Trs) were - 0.3, 0.73, 0.42, and -0.3 degrees C, respectively. Likewise standard d eviations were 0.33, 0.37, 0.35, and 0.35. Conclusion: We conclude tha t all but the Thermopit(R) (TTP) are similarly useful for the manageme nt of patients during anaesthesia.