The Role of Thermography in the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer.
- Author:
Min Hyuk LEE
1
;
Jun Min KANG
Author Information
1. Department of General Surgery, School of Medicine,Soonchunhyang University, Seoul, Korea.
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords:
Thermography;
Breast cancer
- MeSH:
Breast Neoplasms*;
Breast*;
Classification;
Diagnosis*;
Estrogens;
Hot Temperature;
Sensitivity and Specificity;
Skin;
Thermogenesis;
Thermography*
- From:Journal of the Korean Surgical Society
1998;54(5):631-639
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
Breast thermography produces a picture of the heat emitted from the surface of the breast. And abnormal temperature over the breast has been suggested as an indicator of malignancy. The mechanisms for the heat production at the area of the skin over the breast are suggested hypermetabolism, hypervascularization, and hyperfusion of the affected regions of the breast. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of breast thermography in breast cancer. One hundred thirty breast cancers and one hundred ten benign breast masses were examined by a digital infrared thermographic system (NEC San-ei, Therm Tracer 6T67) between January 1991 and December 1995. In this study, thermograms were classified as normal (Th-1), equivocal (Th-2), or abnormal (Th-3). Normal thermograms were those with normal symmetric vascularity, equivocal thermograms were those with only heat in the area of mass, and abnormal thermograms were those with heat and increased vascularity in the area of mass. Among the 110 benign breast masses, there were 98 Th-1 cases (89.1%), 2 Th-2 cases (1.8%) and 10 Th-3 cases (9.1%). Among the 130 breast cancers, there were 98 Th-3 cases (75.4%), 20 Th-2 cases (16.2%), and 12 Th-1 cases (9.2%). The sensitivity of the breast thermograms was 90%, the specificity 89.1%, and the diagnostic accuracy 89.6%. A thermal difference(deltaT) of less than 1oC was seen in 10 cases (7.7%) of breast cancer, and a deltaT of more than 1oC was seen in 120 cases (92.3%). Among the latter of a deltaT of more than 3oC was seen in 67 cases(51.4%). The correlation of the breast-cancer tumor size with deltaT was highly significant(p<0.0001). The classification of the thermographic diagnosis was found to be statistically correlated with tumor size (p<0.0001), axillary node status (p<0.001) and nuclear grade (p<0.05), but not with the presence or abscence of estrogen receptor. These results suggest that thermography is useful as a diagnostic tool for breast cancer. And that a deltaT of more than 2oC of on a breast thermogram strongly suqqests a malignancy.
