Circadian rhythm chaos: a new breast cancer marker.

Keith LG, Oleszczuk JJ, Laguens M.; Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

The most disappointing aspect of breast cancer treatment as a public health issue has
been the failure of screening to improve mortality figures. Since treatment of latestage
cancer has indeed advanced, mortality can only be decreased by improving the rate of
early diagnosis. From the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, it was expected that
thermography would hold the key to breast cancer detection, as surface temperature
increases overlying malignant tumors had been demonstrated by thermographic
imaging. Unfortunately, detection of the 1-3 degrees C thermal differences failed to bear
out its promise in early identification of cancer. In the intervening two-and-a-half
decades, three new factors have emerged: it is now apparent that breast cancer has a
lengthy genesis; a long-established tumor-even one of a certain minimum size-induces
increased arterial/capillary vascularity in its vicinity; and thermal variations that
characterize tissue metabolism are circadian ("about 24 hours") in periodicity. This
paper reviews the evidence for a connection between disturbances of circadian rhythms
and breast cancer. Furthermore, a scheme is proposed in which circadian rhythm
"chaos" is taken as a signal of high risk for breast cancer even in the absence of
mammographic evidence of neoplasm or a palpable tumor. Recent studies along this
line suggest that an abnormal thermal sign, in the light of our present knowledge
of breast cancer, is ten times as important an indication as is family history data.

Effectiveness of a noninvasive digital infrared thermal
imaging system in the detection of breast cancer.
Arora N, Martins D, Ruggerio D, Tousimis E, Swistel AJ, Osborne MP, Simmons
RM.
Department of Surgery, New York Presbyterian Hospital-Cornell, New York, NY, USA.

BACKGROUND: Digital infrared thermal imaging (DITI) has resurfaced in this era of
modernized computer technology. Its role in the detection of breast cancer is evaluated.

METHODS: In this prospective clinical trial, 92 patients for whom a breast biopsy was
recommended based on prior mammogram or ultrasound underwent DITI. Three scores
were generated: an overall risk score in the screening mode, a clinical score based on
patient information, and a third assessment by artificial neural network. 

RESULTS: Sixty of 94 biopsies were malignant and 34 were benign. DITI identified 58 of 60
malignancies, with 97% sensitivity, 44% specificity, and 82% negative predictive value
depending on the mode used. Compared to an overall risk score of 0, a score of 3 or
greater was significantly more likely to be associated with malignancy (30% vs 90%, P <
.03). 

CONCLUSION: DITI is a valuable adjunct to mammography and ultrasound,
especially in women with dense breast parenchyma.

Infrared thermography as an access pathway for individuals with severe motor impairments.


Memarian N, Venetsanopoulos AN, Chau T.
Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.

BACKGROUND:
People with severe motor impairments often require an alternative access pathway, such as a binary switch, to communicate and to interact with their environment. A wide range of access pathways have been developed from simple mechanical switches to sophisticated physiological ones. In this manuscript we report the inaugural investigation of infrared thermography as a non-invasive and non-contact access pathway by which individuals with disabilities can interact and perhaps eventually communicate.


METHODS:
Our method exploits the local temperature changes associated with mouth opening/closing to enable a highly sensitive and specific binary switch. Ten participants (two with severe disabilities) provided examples of mouth opening and closing. Thermographic videos of each participant were recorded with an infrared thermal camera and processed using a computerized algorithm. The algorithm detected a mouth open-close pattern using a combination of adaptive thermal intensity filtering, motion tracking and morphological analysis.


RESULTS:
High detection sensitivity and low error rate were achieved for the majority of the participants (mean sensitivity of all participants: 88.5% +/- 11.3; mean specificity of all participants: 99.4% +/- 0.7). The algorithm performance was robust against participant motion and changes in the background scene.


CONCLUSION:
Our findings suggest that further research on the infrared thermographic access pathway is warranted. Flexible camera location, convenience of use and robustness to ambient lighting levels, changes in background scene and extraneous body movements make this a potential new access modality that can be used night or day in unconstrained environments.

Dynamic infrared thermography of the nasal vestibules: a new method.

Kastl KG, Wiesmiller KM, Lindemann J.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. 

OBJECTIVE: The surface temperature distribution within the nasal vestibule and the nasal cavity strongly depends on the exact intranasal detection site and point of time during the respiratory cycle. Therefore, conventional temperature measurements e.g. with thermocouples only provide selective measurements. The use of infrared thermography cameras could present a new contactless method with a high spatiotemporal resolution. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the use of infrared thermography camera systems for measurements of the nasal surface temperature during respiration.

METHODS: The surface temperature profiles within the nasal vestibules of healthy volunteers were recorded with infrared thermography cameras during several breathing cycles. Two different types of infrared thermography standard systems were used.

RESULTS: The recordings allowed a display of temperature alterations within the nasal vestibules in a high spatiotemporal resolution synchronous to the breathing cycle. During inspiration, the vestibular surface cooled down presenting a non-homogenous distribution (range, 24.7 to 30.2 degrees C). During expiration, the vestibular surface was warmed again with a non-homogenous distribution (range, 33.1 to 36.2 degrees C). The results of both camera systems were comparable.

CONCLUSION: Infrared thermography cameras allow the exact mapping of nasal surface temperature within the nasal vestibules with a high spatiotemporal resolution without surface contact.

Burn depths evaluation based on active dynamic IR thermal imaging--a preliminary study.

Renkielska A, Nowakowski A, Kaczmarek M, Ruminski J.

Source

Department of Plastic Surgery and Burns, Medical University of Gdansk, il. Debinki 7, 80-211 Gdansk, Poland. aren@mlyniec.gda.pl

Abstract

Proper diagnostic assessment of burn wound depth is of the highest importance in selecting the mode of burn wound treatment. Several diagnostic methods--clinical and histopathological evaluation, as well as methods employing IR imaging--static thermography and active dynamic thermography (ADT)--are compared on the basis of in vivo experiments conducted on three domestic pigs (23 burn wounds). ADT is presented here as a new, reliable and quantitative method of assessing burn wound depth on the basis of discrimination of the thermal properties of burnt tissue. In the case of ADT registration of thermal images was performed following thermal pulse excitation. A series of captured infrared images was used as the basis for calculating the thermal time constant tau for each pixel. The parameter values were compared with histopathological and clinical assessments of burn depth. The mean value of tau was found for burns, which heal within 3 weeks (tau=12.08+/-1.94s) and for burns, which did not heal during this period (tau=9.07+/-0.68s), p<0.05. The accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of all the methods tested were compared, the best results coming from ADT. The ADT method is fast, non-invasive and relatively inexpensive, although it still requires further animal experimentation as well as clinical study to confirm the results.

[Study on technique of thermal imaging and soft-sensing].

[Article in Chinese]

Qu J, Liao Q, Zhang X.

Source

Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, The Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710033, China.

Abstract

The differences of body surface temperature reflect the changes of the status of body tissues. In this regard, detecting and forecasting the changes of the surface temperature is the objective of the technique of medical thermal diagnosis, and how to diagnose the disease earlier with the use of thermal images is a common problem in the field of medical diagnostics and biological engineering. The authors put forward that utilizing the soft-sensing techniques in the field of engineering will be a good solution.

[Thermal imaging properties of toes after walking stress test in diabetic patients].

[Article in Japanese]

Minamishima C, Kuwaki K, Shirota E, Matsuzaki M, Yamashita K, Kamatani M, Maeda K, Yano F.

Source

Department of Clinical Physiological Laboratory, Nishitokyo Metropolitan Police Hospital, Kokubunji.

Abstract

In consecutive 50 diabetic patients hospitalized for medical education, without subjective symptoms of autonomic neuropathy (DM group), performed treadmill walking stress test and thermography, for clarify the feature of the pattern typical of diabetic autonomic neuropathy. Thermal images were collected, before, immediately after, 3, 6, 12 minutes after walking. The mean temperature of toes fell more than 1 degree C than that of baseline level and returned within 0.5 degrees C of baseline level within 6 minutes (N type) in 66% of 30 normal subjects (C group) and 24% of DM group. In 10% of C and 24% of DM, the temperature fell but not returned within 0.5 degrees C of baseline level in 6 minutes (D type). In 17% of C and 38% of DM, the temperature changed within 0.5 degrees C (F type), or rose more than 0.5 degrees C after exercise (U type) in 7% in C and 14% in DM groups. Pts D, F group, have more complications (HbA1c, nephropathy, retinopathy or somatic neuropathy), but not so in C, U type. We concluded D, F types were the typical thermographic features of the toes of pts with diabetic autonomic neuropathy.

FPA-based infrared thermography as applied to the study of cutaneous perspiration and stimulated vascular response in humans.

Vainer BG.

Source

Institute of Semiconductor Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Siberian Branch, Novosibirsk. bgv@isp.nsc.ru

Abstract

This review gives an overview of focal plane array (FPA)-based infrared (IR) thermography as a powerful research method in the field of physiology and medicine. Comparison of the gained results with the data previously obtained by other authors with other research tools is given. Outer thermoregulatory manifestations displayed by the human organism subjected to whole-body heating (sauna bath) and physical loads (exercise bicycling) are quantitatively analysed. Some details of human body emotional sweating (psycho-physiological effect) are reported. Particular attention is paid to studying active sweat glands as individual objects. All experimental data were obtained with the help of a high-sensitivity (0.03 degrees C) fast 128 x 128 InAs IR detector-based thermal imaging system operating in the short-wave spectral region (2.5 to 3 microm) and perfectly suiting medical purposes. It is shown that IR thermography makes it possible to overcome limitations inherent to contact measuring means that were traditionally used before in thermal studies. It is also shown that heterogeneous thermograms displayed by organisms with disturbed inner equilibrium can be quantitatively analysed in terms of statistical parameters of related surface-temperature histograms, such as the mean temperature and the standard deviation of temperature (SDT). The increase and the decrease in SDT turned out to be typical of prolonged physical load and subsequent relaxation, and of external whole-body heating, respectively. Explanation of this result based on a hypothesis advanced within the context of the doctrine of human-organism evolution is given. Skin-temperature distribution function accompanying the relaxed organism in normality was found to closely resemble normal-distribution function. Symmetry break down and variation of the shape of this characteristic may serve as an indicator of homeostasis shift and can be used as a quantitative criterion for the latter. A new phenomenon, stable punctate hidrosis, is discovered and described. The term sweatology is introduced to refer to the discussed specific research area in biomedical science.