An automated method for the evaluation of breast cancer using infrared thermography

Authors

  • Antony Morales-Cervantes Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av. Dr. Salvador Nava Mtz. s/n, Zona Universitaria 78290, San Luis Potosí, SLP, México
  • Eleazar Samuel Kolosovas-Machuca Coordinación para la Innovación y la Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología Universidad, Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección 78210, San Luís Potosí, SLP, México
  • Edgar Guevara Coordinación para la Innovación y la Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología Universidad, Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección 78210, San Luís Potosí, SLP, México; CONACYT-Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección 78210, San Luís Potosí, SLP, México
  • Mireya Maruris Reducindo Unidad Académica de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Carretera Nal. Chilpancingo-Petaquillas, Ex Rancho Shalako 39105. Petaquillas, Guerrero, México
  • Alix Berenice Bello Hernández Unidad Académica de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Autónoma de Guerrero, Carretera Nal. Chilpancingo-Petaquillas, Ex Rancho Shalako 39105. Petaquillas, Guerrero, México
  • Manuel Ramos García Hospital General "Dr Raymundo Abarca Alarcón" Chilpancingo, Carretera Federal Chilpancingo- Zumpango. Paraje Tierras Prietas S/N, Guerrero, México
  • Francisco Javier González Coordinación para la Innovación y la Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología Universidad, Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2da. Sección 78210, San Luís Potosí, SLP, México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1735

Keywords:

breast cancer, infrared thermography, automated screening

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the major causes of death for women. Temperature measurement is advantageous because it is non-invasive, non-destructive, and cost-effective. Temperature measurement through infrared thermography is useful to detect changes in blood perfusion that can occur due to inflammation, angiogenesis, or other pathological causes. In this work, we analyzed 206 thermograms of patients with suspected breast cancer, using a classification method, in which thermal asymmetries were computed, the most vascularized areas of each breast were extracted and compared; then these two metrics were added to yield a thermal score, indicative of thermal anomalies. The classification method based on this thermal score allowed us to obtain the test sensitivity of 100 %, specificity of 68.68 %; a positive predictive value of 11.42 % and negative predictive value of 100 %. These results highlight the potential of thermography imaging as adjunctive tool to mammography in breast cancer screening.

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Published

2018-10-26

How to Cite

Morales-Cervantes, A., Kolosovas-Machuca, E. S., Guevara, E., Maruris Reducindo, M., Bello Hernández, A. B., Ramos García, M., & González, F. J. (2018). An automated method for the evaluation of breast cancer using infrared thermography. EXCLI Journal, 17, 989–998. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-1735

Issue

Vol. 17 (2018)

Section

Original articles

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