Learning objectives
To describe the thermography technique.
To understand the role of thermography to identify atypical axillary lymph nodes in patients with breast cancer.
Background
A suspected feature of adenopathy is currently evaluated by percutaneous procedures.
However,
these diagnostic techniques are invasive,
painful and costly.
Thermography is a sensitive technique to detect thermal changes,
that are functional characteristics of the tissue,
which occur before structural changes,
so an earlier diagnosis of adenopathies can be achieved.
Technological improvements have led to increases in the thermography device sensitivity.
It is well known that an adenopathy modifies vascularization through pathological angiogenesis which results in hyperthermia detectable with high accuracy by thermography.
It is...
Findings and procedure details
What is thermography?
Image technique that uses infrared radiation from the electromagnetic energy spectrum.
Low frequency and high wavelength.
No ionizing effect.
How does it work?
All objects with an absolute temperature above zero (0 Kelvin = -273 ° C) emit infrared radiation.
The hotter the object is,
the more radiation it emits.
Infrared radiation has a wavelength greater than the sensitivity of our eyes,
so it is invisible.
The thermography devices are sensitive to this radiation and have algorithms that produce an image on...
Conclusion
This study aimed to highlight the potential of thermography as a future method of screening adenopathies,
considering its great sensitivity and low cost,
as well as the fact that it is a non-invasive,
innocuous and painless method.
Personal information
C.
Ferreira,
P.
Oliveira,
M.
Cruz,
M.
Gonçalo,
F.
Caseiro Alves;
Hospital Centre and University of Coimbra,
Department of Imagiology,
Coimbra (Portugal)
References
■ Deborah A.
kennedy,
et al.,
“A Comparative Review of thermography as a Breast Cancer Screening Technique”,
Integrative Cancer Therapies,
Vol 8,
Nº1,
Março 2009
■ Gladis Souza,
“Análise e triagem de tumor benigno de mamas a partir de imagem infravermelha”,
Dissertação apresentada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Mecânica da Universidade Federal do Paraná,
2014
■ Tadeusz J.
Popiela,
“Thermographic Atlas-Breast Cancer”,
Warsaw 2016
■Maria da Conceição Formoso Nobre Santos,
“Uso da termografia para caracterizar qualitativamente fachadas de edifícios”,
Dissertação apresentada para a obtenção...