Review on the evolving role of infrared thermography in oncological applications

Abstract

In recent years, researchers have increasingly explored the application of thermography for premature cancer detection without resorting to invasive procedures. This comprehensive review article investigates how thermography is applied in the field of cancer research with a focus on different types of cancers but excludes an in-depth analysis of breast cancer due to the abundance of pre-existing online literature. During the literature collection phase, a bibliometric and scientometric analysis was done to showcase the work done in this particular domain. The review is organized firstly with an overview of medical thermography fundamentals followed by its principles and applications. Concurrently, this review article highlights various medical thermography techniques providing some insights into the diverse approach medical professionals employ. As the exploration deepens into thermography, the literature covers image acquisition and processing methods followed by the computational tools utilized for comprehensive analysis of thermograms. At the core of this review is an in-depth illustration of the state-of-the-art outcomes of diverse researchers. The review studies their objectives and achievements therefore offering insights into the evolving methodologies and findings within thermography-based cancer research over time. The bibliographic data for review was primarily extracted using Google ScholarTM whereas the Scopus database was used to extract bibliographic data for the scientometric mapping. The primary goal of this review article is to synthesize this collective knowledge, providing a clear understanding of how the application of thermography contributes to the field of oncology. The purpose of this review article is to serve as a valuable resource for researchers by placing the basis for additional progressions in this dynamic emerging field.