Thermography - A Feasible Method for Screening of Breast Cancer? (original) (raw)
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Thermography--a feasible method for screening breast cancer?
Collegium antropologicum, 2013
Potential use of thermography for more effective detection of breast carcinoma was evaluated on 26 patients scheduled for breast carcinoma surgery. Ultrasonographic scan, mammography and thermography were performed at the University Hospital for Tumors. Thermographic imaging was performed using a new generation of digital thermal cameras with high sensitivity and resolution (ThermoTracer TH7102WL, NEC). Five images for each patient were recorded: front, right semi-oblique, right oblique, left- semi oblique and left oblique. While mammography detected 31 changes in 26 patients, thermography was more sensitive and detected 6 more changes in the same patients. All 37 changes were subjected to the cytological analysis and it was found that 16 of samples were malignant, 8 were suspected malignant and 11 were benign with atypia or proliferation while only 2 samples had benign findings. The pathohistological method (PHD) recorded 75.75% malignant changes within the total number of samples....
The Effect of Thermography on Breast Cancer Detection-A Survey
Systematic Reviews in Pharmacy
Image processing technique in general, involves the application of signal processing on the input image for isolating the individual color plane of an image. Cancer has generally an abnormal cell that grows and invade healthy cells in the body. Breast cancer occurs when malignant tumors develop in the breast. Early detection of the breast cancer can effective in increasing the rate of survival. There are several Medical image techniques which has been used for detecting breast cancer. The survey explored the needs for the thermography over other screening tools. Thermography detects and records temperature changes on the surface of the skin which is known as Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI). Thermography is known for its features like non-invasive, painless, cost effective and high chances of recovery, which has got ability to detect the breast cancer at near beginning. There is no such tool which provides accurate predictability unless biopsy. But the combination of tools with thermography may boost the sensitivity and specificity when compared with other mechanisms.
Breast Thermography as a Potential Non-Contact Method in the Early Detection of Cancer: A Review
Journal of Mechanics in Medicine and Biology, 2013
This review paper discusses recent research achievements in medical thermography with concerns about the possibility of early breast cancer detection. With the advancements in infrared (IR) technology, image processing methods, and the pathophysiological-based knowledge of thermograms, IR screening is sufficiently mature to be utilized as a first-line complement to both health managing and clinical prognosis. In addition, it explains the performance and environmental conditions in identifying thermography for breast tumor imaging under strict indoor controlled environmental circumstances. An irregular thermogram is indicated as a significant biological risk marker for the presence or growth of breast tumors. Breast thermography is completely non-contact, with no form of radiation and compression. It is useful for all women of all ages, for pregnant and breastfeeding women, for women with implants, for women with dense or fibrocystic breasts, for women on hormone replacement therapy, and for pre or post menopausal women.
Breast Cancer Detection Using Thermography
Breast cancer is one of the crucially prevailing cancers among women. Early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer can also be done with the help of mammography which is the most common method, cost effective and provides good chances of recovery. However due to some weakness in mammography; another method called as Infrared Breast thermography is used. Infrared breast thermography is an imaging technique which detects based on thermal changes in the body. This information acts as an indicator that a tumor may be present in the body. Survival rate is improved due to early detection with the help of thermography. Due to increased blood vessel circulation and metabolic activity, the radiations emitted from the human body are higher around the regions where a tumor is present. The thermal information which is shown in a colored image where specific range of temperature is represented by a color assigned to it representing the variations observed throughout the part. The heat patterns as a visual aspect can be used to primarily categorize the clinical interpretation of breast thermogram. This study essays to present color analysis as per the classification on the basis of segmentation. The distinguishable features which are used to detect abnormalities are based upon the variations shown as per the image shape of the hottest regions and it is confirmed by comparing with doctors diagnosis. Hence suitability of infrared thermography as a diagnostic tool in breast cancer detection is established through this study.
Assessing the Potential of Thermal Imaging in Recognition of Breast Cancer
Background: Breast cancer is a common disorder in women, constituting one of the main causes of death all over the world. The purpose of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of the breast tissue diseases by the help of thermography. Materials and Methods: In this paper, we applied non-contact infrared camera, INFREC R500 for evaluating the capabilities of thermography. The study was conducted on 60 patients suspected of breast disease, who were referred to Imam Khomeini Imaging Center. Information obtained from the questionnaires and clinical examinations along with the obtained diagnostic results from ultrasound images, biopsies and thermography, were analyzed. The results indicated that the use of thermography as well as the asymmetry technique is useful in identifying hypoechoic as well as cystic masses. It should be noted that the patient should not suffer from breast discharge. Results: The accuracy of asymmetry technique identifiation is respectively 91/89% and 92/30%. Also the accuracy of the exact location of identifiation is on the 61/53% and 75%. The approach also proved effective in identifying heterogeneous lesions, firoadenomas, and intraductal masses, but not ISO-echoes and calcifid masses. Conclusions: According to the results of the investigation, thermography may be useful in the initial screening and supplementation of diagnostic procedures due to its safety (its non-radiation properties), low cost and the good recognition of breast tissue disease.
A review of thermography as promising non-invasive detection modality for breast tumor
International Journal of Thermal Sciences, 2009
From the last 1.5 decades of complying with the strict standardized thermogram interpretation protocols by proper infrared trained personnel as documented in literature, breast thermography has achieved an average sensitivity and specificity of 90%. An abnormal thermogram is reported as the significant biological risk marker for the existence of or continues development of breast tumor. This review paper further discusses the performance and environmental requirements in characterizing thermography as being used for breast tumor screening under strict indoor controlled environmental conditions. The essential elements on performance requirements include display temperature color scale, display temperature resolution, emissivity setting, screening temperature range, workable target plane, response time and selection of critical parameters such as uniformity, minimum detectable temperature difference, detector pixels and drift between auto-adjustment. The paper however does not preclude users from potential errors and misinterpretations of the data derived from thermal imagers.
International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2016
In this article, a study of various medical imaging modalities and survey of computer aided detection (CAD) approaches used for the detection of breast cancer are presented. Early breast cancer detection, is important as it can increase the rate of diagnosis, cure and survival of the affected women. Medical imaging techniques can detect early signs of breast cancer. They are also used to diagnose, stage breast cancer and guide treatments. This article explains the imaging procedure, analysis of images, benefits and limitations of standard medical imaging techniques such as mammography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, and thermography. Also some of modern imaging techniques are discussed here. Comparative study of mammography, ultrasound, thermography and magnetic resonance imaging describes the benefits of thermography in early detection of breast cancer. CAD provides a fast, reliable, and cost-effective second opinion to support doctors with the diagnostic management of breast cancer. This article reviews various CAD algorithms developed and studied for mammography, ultrasound and thermography. From the literature review, it is observed that accuracy of detection of breast abnormalities using CAD are decided by many factors, such as size of database, image quality, segmentation of region of interest, extracted features and classifiers used, etc. D. Sathish et al.
Evaluating the thermal imaging system in detecting certain types of breast tissue masses.
The temperature of human body is indicative of critical medical information concerning the whole body. Abnormal rise in total and regional body temperature is a natural symptom in diagnosing many types of diseases. Thermal imaging (Thermography) utilizes infrared beams, which are fast, non-invasive, and non-contact. Generally, the output images by this technique are flexible and useful to monitor the temperature of the human body. The purpose of this study is to determine the diagnostic value of the breast tissue diseases by the help of thermography. In this paper, we used the non-contact infrared camera INFREC R500 for evaluating the capabilities of thermography. This study was conducted on 60 patients suspected of breast tissue disease, which were referred to Imam Khomeini Imaging Center. The overall information was obtained from multiple sources including a predefined medical questionnaire, the performed clinical examinations, diagnostic results obtained from ultrasound images, clinical biopsies and thermography. All of these inputs were analyzed by the respective experts of breast cancer. Medical analysis indicated that the use of Thermography as well as the asymmetry technique is useful in identifying hypo echoic and cystic masses. It should be noted that the patient should not suffer from breast discharge. The Accuracy of the asymmetry identification technique for identifying hypo echoic and cystic masses is 91/89% and 92/30%.In the same manner, the accuracy of identifying the exact location is 61/53% and 75%. This method is also effective in identifying heterogeneous, fibro-adenoma, and Intra-ductal masses. But it is unable to identify Iso-echo and calcified mass. According to the results of the investigation, Thermography is useful in the initial screening and supplementation of diagnostic procedures due to its safety (its non-ionizing radiation property which acts as everyday immersed heat), low cost and the exact recognition of diseases of the breast tissue.
Initial Evaluation of Semi-Automated Breast Cancer Screening Using Thermography
Proceedings of the 2015 Asia International Conference on Quantitative InfraRed Thermography, 2015
Breast cancer has the highest incidence among cancers in women, in India and worldwide. Screening and early detection play a large role in reducing mortality as breast cancer can be cured if it is detected in the early stages. Mammography is considered the gold standard in screening, but it is not useful for younger women due to low sensitivity with denser breasts and its harmful X-rays can cause an increase in the risk of cancer if used frequently. Sonomammography is typically used in correlation. Incidence rates are rising in younger women as compared to previous decades, due to changes from environmental pollutants and socioeconomic reasons. This is causing a relook at thermography for low cost and non-harmful screening. In this paper, an automated thermographic screening tool is used to classify 108 subjects from the patient database of Central Diagnostic Research Foundation, a diagnostic clinic. In addition to classification, the location of the suspected tumor is also highlighted on the thermography images. The results are promising with 100% sensitivity and 73% specificity. The algorithm used is novel, which combines features obtained from the temperature distribution of the subject, in a personalized manner, to classify as well as localize the tumor.
Statistical analysis of healthy and malignant breast thermography
Journal of Medical Engineering & Technology
Analysis of thermograms have been subjective and hence, resulting in inconsistency in the diagnosis of breast diseases by thermography. The aim of this paper is to study the problem of subjective interpretation of breast thermograms and hence using thermography as an adjunct tool for breast cancer diagnosis. It was proposed that the thermograms should be taken within the recommended screening period, classified and analysed in conjunction with an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Qualitative interpretation of thermal images could be done using active contours algorithm. The 256!200 pixels image can be segmented as one of the inputs to the ANN. As for quantitative analysis of the breast thermograms, first and foremost, the inputs of the ANN should be determined for the successful classification and analysis of the thermograms based on the inputs suggested.