Draft- For internal use only
Why the Foot Is the Front Line of Early Detection
A HealthTech
Reporter educational report featuring Thermidas Oy and Jouni Kyllönen
In collaboration with imaging
research specialist Dr. Robert Bard
When HealthTech Reporter and imaging research specialist Dr. Robert Bard met with Jouni Kyllönen, the conversation
quickly moved beyond devices and specifications into a deeper discussion about
prevention, workflow efficiency, and one deceptively simple question: why
the feet? As CEO of Thermidas Oy, Kyllönen brings more
than two decades of experience in industrial automation, software integration,
and data-driven systems design. That background is evident in Thermidas’
flagship thermal imaging solution—an all-in-one, AI-assisted platform
purpose-built for medical professionals to identify early physiological changes
in the foot before irreversible damage occurs. This report presents Thermidas
not as a single product, but as a new category of clinical insight—one that
reframes the foot as an informative organ for early detection,
prevention, and longitudinal monitoring across diabetes, vascular disease,
neuropathy, pressure injury risk, and beyond.
Why the
Foot Matters: The “Informative Foot” Concept
The foot is one of the most
metabolically and neurologically demanding structures in the body. It is rich
in microvasculature, dense with nerve endings, and continuously exposed to
mechanical stress. For clinicians, this makes it an early warning system—particularly
for systemic disorders that compromise circulation, nerve signaling, or tissue
oxygenation.
According to international diabetic
foot guidelines referenced by Thermidas, regular thermal imaging can help
prevent up to 75% of diabetic foot
ulcers by identifying abnormal temperature asymmetries between
contralateral regions of the feet. A temperature difference of approximately 4°F (≈2°C)—either hotter or
colder—often precedes visible tissue breakdown. Elevated temperature may
indicate inflammation or ulcer formation; reduc
In older adults and immobile
patients, similar thermal signatures precede pressure ulcers—injuries that
remain among the most costly and preventable complications in long-term care.
Nearly all pressure ulcers, Kyllönen notes, are preventable when early
physiological changes are detected and acted upon.
From
Industrial Automation to Medical Insight
When he joined Thermidas, there was
already a working prototype. What followed was a multi-year process of
refinement—placing the device into real clinical environments, gathering user
feedback, and identifying friction points in adoption. Clinicians, he learned,
were not asking for more data; they were asking for clarity, standardization, and confidence. Thermidas was redesigned accordingly.
The
Thermidas System: Guided, Standardized, and Clinically Practical
Thermidas is a portable, medical-grade thermal imaging
device with embedded AI designed to assist—not replace—clinical
judgment. The system guides the user step-by-step through a standardized
imaging protocol, beginning with plantar (sole) views and followed by dorsal
(top-of-foot) imaging.
A visual interface confirms when AI
assistance is active, evaluates image quality in real time, and ensures
consistent positioning and capture. Once images are acquired, the system
instantly analyzes temperature differentials across predefined regions of
interest. Clinician-defined thresholds trigger visual flags:
- Yellow for moderate asymmetry
- Red for clinically significant temperature differences
With a single click, practitioners
can isolate and visualize areas exceeding those thresholds, dramatically
reducing interpretation time and cognitive load.
Importantly, Thermidas’ AI is not
trained to diagnose disease. Instead, it is trained to recognize feet—across
shapes, positions, and capture conditions—and to reliably detect thermal
variation. This design choice preserves clinical autonomy while removing
technical barriers to consistent use.
Workflow Integration: Built for Real-World Care
One of Thermidas’ strongest
advantages is its compatibility with existing clinical ecosystems. The platform
includes a web-based thermal viewer for formal reporting, allowing images to be
exported as PDFs, PNGs, or JPEGs and uploaded into PACS systems or shared securely
with patients and care teams.
From capture to review, the process
takes approximately 10 minutes,
making it feasible for outpatient clinics, podiatry practices, endocrinology
offices, home-care providers, and screening programs. This portability and speed support a broader
shift in healthcare: moving meaningful diagnostics closer to the point of care.
In diabetic patients, neuropathy
disrupts the feedback loop between the feet and the brain. Without pain
signaling or vascular regulation, blood flow becomes erratic. Thermally, this
appears not as the balanced “butterfly” pattern of a healthy foot, but as a
mottled “leopard skin” distribution—hot spots scattered without normal cooling
zones.
These patterns are not limited to
diabetes. Similar thermal disruptions may appear in:
- Peripheral vascular disease
- Chronic inflammation
- Pressure injury risk
- Post-surgical monitoring
- Prosthetic fitting and rehabilitation
Thermidas devices are currently used
in military and humanitarian settings, including limb-loss rehabilitation,
where thermal imaging helps guide skin graft selection, monitor healing, and
optimize prosthetic fitting—reducing painful trial-and-error cycles from eight
or more fittings to just one or two.
An All-in-One
Solution for Modern Healthcare
For healthcare professionals,
Thermidas represents a convergence of needs:
- Non-invasive screening without radiation
- Standardized protocols that reduce user variability
- AI-assisted interpretation that saves time
- Portable deployment across clinical and community settings
- Longitudinal tracking for prevention and follow-up
At a systems level, this translates
into earlier intervention, reduced complications, lower long-term costs, and
improved patient outcomes—particularly in populations at risk for silent
progression.
Prevention
as a Strategy, Not a Slogan
In discussions with HealthTech
Reporter and Dr. Bard, Kyllönen emphasized that prevention only works when
tools are practical enough to be used consistently. Thermidas was engineered
around that philosophy: make early detection fast, repeatable, and clinically
meaningful.
By focusing on the foot—a structure
that quietly reflects systemic stress long before crisis—Thermidas reframes
screening as an everyday practice rather than a last-resort response.
Looking
Ahead
As healthcare systems worldwide
shift toward value-based care, remote monitoring, and early intervention,
technologies like Thermidas illustrate how thoughtful design can bridge
innovation and usability. The “informative foot” is no longer a metaphor; it is
a measurable, visual dataset that can guide care decisions before damage
becomes disease.
For the diabetes community,
long-term care providers, and clinicians seeking smarter prevention tools,
Thermidas offers a compelling example of how advanced imaging can be
simplified—without being oversimplified.
This article is part of HealthTech Reporter’s ongoing coverage of emerging diagnostic technologies and preventive care innovations, developed in collaboration with clinical imaging experts and global technology leaders.
PART 2 —
Pre-Test Review and Clinical
Perspective
A correspondence and industry
analysis by imaging specialist Dr. Robert Bard
In advance of any hands-on testing, imaging specialist Dr. Robert Bard conducted a comprehensive pre-test review of Thermidas’ published materials, technical documentation, and workflow demonstrations. His assessment, grounded in decades of experience evaluating non-invasive imaging platforms, frames Thermidas as a thoughtfully engineered system that reflects both technological maturity and clinical foresight.
From a design and usability standpoint, Dr. Bard notes that Thermidas
distinguishes itself by addressing one of the most persistent challenges in
imaging innovation: consistency. Many promising technologies fail not because
of poor science, but because they are difficult to standardize in real-world
clinical environments. The Thermidas platform, as presented thus far, appears
intentionally built to solve that problem—integrating guided capture, automated
quality checks, and AI-assisted visualization to reduce operator variability
while preserving physician authority. “The emphasis on workflow intelligence is
telling,” Bard observes. “This is not a device that overwhelms clinicians with
raw data. It filters complexity in a way that respects time, training, and
clinical judgment.”
The data presented to date, including referenced diabetic foot and
pressure-injury research, supports the platform’s preventive orientation. Bard
highlights the importance of contralateral comparison and threshold-based
flagging as a clinically sound method for identifying early pathological
stress—particularly in tissues vulnerable to ischemia, neuropathy, and
microvascular compromise. By embedding these principles directly into the
device logic, Thermidas reduces dependence on post-hoc interpretation and
reinforces reproducibility.
Central to Bard’s interest is the decision to target the foot as a primary
screening site. From a pathological standpoint, he describes this as
“strategically elegant.” The foot is often where systemic disease declares
itself first—especially in diabetes, vascular disorders, inflammatory states,
and mobility-limited populations. Long before symptoms escalate, thermal
asymmetries can reveal disrupted perfusion, inflammatory burden, or loss of
neurovascular regulation. “In imaging, the smartest solutions are often
anatomical,” Bard explains. “The foot is distal, vascularly complex,
neurologically sensitive, and mechanically stressed. If something is going
wrong systemically, it frequently shows up there.”
While careful not to overstate conclusions prior to live testing, Bard
acknowledges that Thermidas reflects a maturity he has witnessed only after
years of iteration in other modalities. Having observed the evolution of
ultrasound, Doppler flow analysis, and thermology from experimental tools to
clinically indispensable assets, he recognizes familiar markers of readiness:
disciplined scope, respect for clinical boundaries, and a clear understanding
of where technology should assist rather than dictate.
Bard also underscores the broader implication of positioning thermal imaging
as an early-detection and prevention strategy rather than a diagnostic
endpoint. In an era increasingly defined by proactive care, technologies that
visualize risk before irreversible damage occurs are essential. Thermidas, in
his view, aligns with that trajectory by offering a non-invasive, repeatable,
and patient-friendly method for monitoring physiological change over time. “Prevention
only works when detection is practical,” Bard concludes. “Thermal
imaging—applied intelligently—has the potential to shift care upstream. What
Thermidas appears to be doing is making that shift clinically usable.”
Chasing Neuropathy: Imaging the Silent
Breakdown
A particularly compelling aspect of
Thermidas, in Dr. Bard’s view, is its potential relevance to one of medicine’s
most elusive challenges: neuropathy. Neuropathy is not a single disease but a
progressive breakdown of nerve signaling that quietly dismantles protective
feedback between tissue and brain. Clinically, it is often diagnosed late—after
sensation is lost, injuries go unnoticed, and secondary damage has already
begun.
From an imaging standpoint, Bard describes neuropathy as a condition that
must be chased upstream. Long before patients report numbness or pain,
thermophysiologic disruption begins to surface. Altered blood-flow regulation,
asymmetric heat distribution, and the loss of normal thermal gradients reflect
a nervous system that is no longer governing microcirculation effectively. “The
foot becomes a living map of neurological compromise,” Bard notes. “When neural
control fades, thermal chaos replaces symmetry.”
By focusing on temperature differentials rather than subjective symptoms,
Thermidas introduces a non-invasive way to visualize this breakdown
earlier—offering clinicians a tool to monitor neuropathic progression, stratify
risk, and intervene before irreversible consequences take hold.
This pre-test assessment sets the stage for formal evaluation, where
real-world performance will ultimately determine impact. For now, Bard’s review
positions Thermidas as a promising, well-reasoned entrant in the next chapter
of preventive medical imaging. ¢
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