The thermal field of an early breast cancer reflected on the breast surface

A more intense metabolism of cancer cells versus normal cells may be an important source of heat which produces changes of the affected breast tissue thermal field. In very early tumors, when neoangiogenesis has not been developed yet, the thermal effect can be important for detection. The temperature changes on the breast surface can be measured and can serve as a breast cancer screening process. In this paper, the Pennes' equation for the thermal field is numerically solved for the case of early tumors. The thermal difference field computed by subtracting the healthy breast field from that of the pathologic one is analyzed on the breast surface.