Thermographic validation of physical complaints in ‘psychogenic pain’ patients

To determine whether some patients complaining of chronic unexplained pain had received inappropriate psychiatric diagnoses, we used thermography to evaluate 224 consecutive patients. Abnormal results were found in 43 patients (19%), leading to diagnoses of reflex sympathetic dystrophy, nerve root irritation, and thoracic outlet syndrome. Three case histories illustrated by thermograms demonstrate the value of thermography in detecting otherwise overlooked organic disorders, particularly sympathetic dysfunction, that may easily be misdiagnosed as psychogenic pain.