The invention refers to a fully automatable method for processing of one or more input thermal images (1) of a body, for example of the hands or feet of a subject, to obtain a plurality of local thermal features (7), characteristics of an inflammatory process. Said method comprises acquiring one or more input thermal images (1) with an image acquisition sensor; preprocessing (2) the thermal images (1) to obtain one or more enhanced images (3); and selecting one or more regions of interest (4') of the enhanced images (3). Local thermal features (7) are described from each ROI comprising information about the inflammation of the hands or feet. The invention also comprises a device performing such a method. The device is useful especially in the area of so-called remote patient monitoring.