Periodic Dynamic Thermography for Breast Cancer Assessment

In this paper we propose Periodic Dynamic Thermography (PDT), in conjunction with Image processing and Analysis, to be an easy to use procedure involving capturing thermal images of the breast. The authors present a proof of concept study for subjects to image their own breasts periodically, starting from early ages of adolescence, where mammography is not recommended. Utilizing the proposed procedure, it is envisaged that each subject will establish historical thermal images of their own breasts where they can later be analyzed, by a physician, to assess the causes of thermal changes identified on the surface of the breast. Towards this end we have utilized phantoms, solved the heat transfer equations for the phantom shape boundary conditions with COMSOL, and confirmed the resulting thermal distribution with the observed temperature distribution for the phantoms. Based on this model’s promising results we propose the development of a system to capture thermographic images of the subject from their early years in life, periodically (monthly or bi-weekly), with image analysis application software to be used as an assessment tool to alert the subject of any abnormal thermal changes.