Tampere Firm Uses Thermal Imaging to Speed Prosthetic Fittings for Ukrainian Amputees

Yle reports that a Tampere health-tech company is testing thermal imaging to speed prosthetic fitting for Ukrainian amputees, demonstrating the device in Lviv to 50-year-old veteran Volodymyr Ovsiannikov and local hospital therapists.

Ovsiannikov lost a leg, a hand and fingers in an August 2023 grenade strike near Borova in Kharkiv region and has undergone 48 surgeries. He learned to walk again with the help of hospital rehabilitation staff and now hopes to return to work. Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have lost limbs since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. One key rehabilitation centre is the Unbroken hospital in Lviv; its prosthetics unit produces hundreds of artificial limbs each year.

Thermidas attaches a thermal camera to a tablet to map skin temperature across an amputated limb. "With our method we see what the human eye cannot see," consultant Frida Samuelsson says, adding that the images give clinicians clearer data than a patient’s verbal description. Physiotherapist Nazar Oleškol believes the tool could speed finding a well-fitting prosthesis and help avoid complications such as wounds and chafing. Some hospitals in Ivano-Frankivsk already use thermal imaging. The project is connected to Business Tampere’s new Lviv office, which aims to link Tampere-region companies with Ukraine’s reconstruction Business Tampere opened a Lviv office in September.