Breast Thermography - Physiological Foundation of Infrared Imaging

PHYSIOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF INFRARED IMAGING:

Digital InfraRed Thermal Imaging (DITI) is a Neurovascular, Autonomic, Functional evaluation tool: DITI measures skin temperature 5 mm deep portrayed by color pallets consistent with a gray scale, in which white is the highest temperature and black is the lowest. Skin is regulated primarily by the hypothalamus in the brain by way of the Sympathetic Nervous System. Every muscle, organ and glands blood supply is regulated by the hypothalamus with corrsponding skin responses. Infrared Imaging demonstrates a functional autonomic evaluation of mutiple systems at the same time, by reflecting the body parts as skin temperature differences.

INFRARED CAMERA QUALITY:

The data for this examination were acquired using an infrared sensitive camera. Image resolution is 320x240 or 640x480 converted to PDF/JPEG format.

PROCEDURE:

The patient was partially disrobed and underwent thermal equilibration for 15 minutes. Examination performed consistent with recommended protocol for thermal examinations. Serial real-­time thermal imaging scans were performed in a temperature controlled environment ranging between 20-­22 degrees Celsius (68-­72 degrees Fahrenheit) in a minimum 8x8x10 foot room with no drafts, maintaining a less than 1 degree temperature fluctuation throughout the study. Humidity was kept within 25-­50%. Fluorescent lighting was used with covered windows to avoid solar infrared thermal artifacts on the images.

Diagnostic Thermal Imaging Report Date of exam: 04/03/12

Impression:

Breast. There is dramatic thermal signature increase over the right breast. This is compatible with the biopsy report of right breast sarcoma. A drain appears to be in place. There is significant increased temperature of the areola (2.5 °C), and global breast temperature (2.09 °C) right >left.

There is a decrease in the lymphatic congestion of the right breast compared to the previous study on 03/21/12. Both the grey scale and the color scale show a mild decrease (0.22 °C) in global temperature of the right breast from 37.87 C° (03/21/12) to 37.65 °C (04/03/12).