Breast tumor parameter estimation and interactive 3D thermal tomography using discrete thermal sensor data

Abstract

This work uses a simple low-cost wearable device embedded with discrete thermal sensors to map the breast skin surface temperature. A methodology has been developed to estimate diameter, blood perfusion, metabolic heat generation and location in X, Y, Z coordinate of tumor from this discrete set of data. An interactive 3D thermal tomography was developed which provides a detailed 3D thermal view of the breast anatomy. Using this system, the user can interactively rotate and slice the 3D thermal image of the breast for a detailed study of the tumor. Finite element method (FEM) and an evolution-based inverse method were used for the parameter estimation. The method was first validated using phantom experiments and the results obtained were within an error of 10% (0.005 W cm−3) for heat generation and 15% (0.3 cm) for heater location. Further validation was carried out through clinical trials on 60 human subjects. Estimated blood perfusion rate and metabolic heat generation rate exhibit distinguishable difference between cancerous and non-cancerous breast. Estimated diameter and location of tumor in cancerous breast shows good agreement with the actual clinical reports. We have obtained a sensitivity of 82.78% and specificity of 87.09%. Proposed breast tumor parameter estimation methodology with interactive 3D thermal tomography is a good screening tool for breast cancer detection and also useful for clinicians to find out location including depth.