IIT develops fast, non-contact method for early detection of breast cancer
The proposed technique makes use of infrared emission emanating from the breast to detect the hidden tumors at a very early stage with predefined thermal stimulus on the area under examination.
A new "fast, painless and non-contact" way for early detection of breast cancer in women of all ages including pregnant or nursing has been developed by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, its researchers have claimed.
The proposed technique makes use of
infrared emission emanating from the breast to detect the hidden tumors
at a very early stage with predefined thermal stimulus on the area under
examination.
"Infrared Thermography (IRT) is a fast,
painless, non-contact, and non-invasive imaging method, complementary to
mammography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging methods for
early diagnosis of breast cancer," Ravibabu Mulaveesala, Associate
Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, who is associated with
the research said.
The widely used mammography has its limitations in detecting tumors, especially in a "dense breast", he said.
"Dense breasts have less fat and more
gland tissue in comparison to the fatty breasts, which restricts
mammography to detect tumors with confidence. Especially for the tumors
situated in the gland region of the breast, due to the insignificant
density variations between the gland and tumor regions, mammography
fails to provide enough radiographic contrast between the tumor location
and healthy region of the breast," he added.
Mulaveesala explained that this limits
the applicability of mammography in the screening of dense breasts.
"Also, mammography leads to discomfort to the patient and the exposure
to harmful ionizing radiation further restricts its applicability.
However, the present Active IRT technique outperforms the standard
method of mammography by providing patient-friendly breast screening,"
he said.
The research titled "Applicability of
active infrared thermography for the screening of human breast: a
numerical study", has also been published in Journal of Biomedical
Optics. In the new method, an external thermal stimulus (heat/cold) is
applied over the breast under examination for creating significant
temperature differences (2 to 3 degrees centigrade from the ambient
breast temperature) over the normal and abnormal (tumor) regions over
the breast.
Thermal waves generated due to applied
heat stimulus diffuse into the breast and produce a similar temporal
temperature distribution on the skin surface of the breast with a
certain delay and amplitude. The presence of tumors inside the breast
alters the heat flow resulting in temperature gradients over the
surface. Further, phase and amplitude images are constructed using
frequency and time-domain data analysis schemes for detecting the
sub-surface tumors with improved contrast. (Via MidDay)
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