Quantitative assessment of facial paralysis using infrared thermal imaging

Facial paralysis is a condition causing decreased movement on one side of the face. A quantitative, objective, and reliable assessment method would be an invaluable tool for clinicians treating patients with this condition. This paper presents a novel framework for objective assessment of facial paralysis based on patient infrared thermal image. Facial feature localization is discussed based on facial temperature distribution specificity and edge detection. An algorithm is presented to process the infrared thermal image to obtain the facial temperature distribution features in the relevant facial regions. Three classification methods are applied to provide quantitative evaluations of facial nerve function based on the House-Brackmann scale. Experiments show infrared thermal imaging can be used as an effective tool for the automatic assessment of facial nerve function.