Begin the Scan

Beginning a scan involves picking your scan settings and calibrating your instrument to ensure accurate readings. Follow these steps to begin your thermal scan:

Set the width between the two sensors on the equipment as appropriate for the patient. You will find two set screws underneath the sensors that you can twist to loosen, at which point you can adjust them as needed. The sensors should be approximately ½” on either side of the patient’s spine. Don’t forget to tighten them before conducting the scan itself.

Setup the configurations for your thermal scan. There are two ways to do this.

• You can either click on “Start an Exam” from the home page).
• Or you can click “New Exam” on the bottom taskbar.
  

Next, select the patient you want to scan, or you can add a new patient if the one you are looking for is not listed. From the list that appears, click on the “neuroTHERMAL” icon. If you don’t see your equipment listed, be sure it is connected and paired.

Configure your scan setup – Rolling (Fig. 1):

• Patient: Confirm you are scanning the correct patient, if not, you may change him/her here.
• Scan Purpose: Select what type of exam you will be performing.
• Skip L1/T1: For a Rolling Thermal Scan, you may choose to skip T1 and/or L1. If this is selected, only S1 and C2 will prompt you to pull the trigger when you arrive at them during the scan. However, you will get more accurate measurements and data representation when L1 and T1 are included.
• Thermal Scan Method: Choose rolling thermal scan.
• Starting Level: Choose which starting level to begin at and press continue.
• Sounds: You can choose to have a male voice, female voice, or none as your guiding prompts.
  

Fig. 1

Configure your scan setup – Segmental (Fig. 2):

• Patient: Confirm you are scanning the correct patient, if not, you may change him/her here.
• Scan Purpose: Select what type of exam you will be performing.
• Thermal Scan Method: Choose Segmental.
• Protocol: Choose which protocol is best for the patient. Ideally there will be customized protocols especially for infants, cervical spines, the sacral region and other combinations that you can build out in the Scan Protocols section in settings.
• Sounds: You can choose to have a male voice, female voice, or none as your guiding prompts.
  

Fig 2.

After the settings are confirmed, click “Continue” to prepare the instrument for the exam. Prompts will guide you to ensure that the neuroTHERMAL is powered on by holding down the trigger. You will see the blue light run back and forth on the face of the instrument. Click “Connect to neuroTHERMAL” (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3

At this point, you can click “Begin Scan” and you will be taken to the scan screen from which you will conduct the scan itself.