Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease which results in the loss of joint function and several deformities. The aim of the study was to evaluate the influence of duration of the disease and prescribed treatment on the temperature of RA joints.
Methods: The evaluation was carried out on 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 30 typical subjects as a control group. Thermograms were taken using thermograph camera.
Results: Statistically significant difference was found for ankle joint temperature between the group of patients treated for more than 10 years and healthy subjects.
Conclusions: The observations indicate that mean temperature of the skin above the ankle joint tends to decrease with rising duration of disease course. Progression of a RA leads to an erosive destruction in ankle joint in late stages of a disease.

Keywords: rheumatoid arthritis, thermovision, skin temperature