Diagnosis of breast cancer with infrared dynamic area telethermometry (DAT)

Breast cancer was shown to affect the modulation of skin perfusion in subareas of cancerous breasts. This is probably due to the vasodilatory effect of nitric oxide (NO), generated by cancerous cells. By saturating NO endothelial receptors, extravascular NO interferes with neuronal control of perfusion. DAT can quantitatively assess this effect of cancer and be used to detect breast cancer. This noninvasive diagnostic test involves the acquisition of 1024 consecutive infrared images of a breast at a rate of 100 Hz. The DAT test yields several diagnostic parameters, including: (1) the average modulation amplitude of the breast; (2) the average modulation of a subset of spots with the lowest modulation amplitudes; and (3) the spatial distribution of that subset of spots. The frequency dependence of each of these three parameters constitutes three additional diagnostic parameters. Modulation of the spatial homogeneity of skin temperature offers another analogous set of diagnostic parameters. Our clinical study involved testing breasts found by X-ray mammography to show suspicious microcalcification warranting biopsy. We compared breasts with pathologically established malignant lesions, breasts containing benign lesions, and breasts with normal X-ray mammograms (the contralateral breast). The DAT findings of the two latter groups were indistinguishable. Preliminary tests have demonstrated that cancerous breasts can be identified with a sensitivity >90% at a specificity of 95%.