Study subjects included 40 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) participants in the COPD group and 40 age-matched healthy participants in the healthy control group. Laser doppler flowmetry, infrared thermography, and functional near-infrared spectroscopy were respectively adopted to measure (1) the perfusion unit (PU), (2) temperature, and (3) regional oxygen saturation (rSO2) of 4 specific somatic sites distributing in the heart and lung meridians. These 3 outcome measures reflected the microcirculatory, thermal and metabolic characteristics of the body surface, respectively.
The association between viscera and the body surface remains obscure, but a better understanding of it will maximize its diagnostic and therapeutic values in clinical practice. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the specificity of the association between viscera and the body surface in the pathological state.