Diagnosis of Soft Tissue Cancers Using Thermography Technique Based on Artificial Tactile Sensing Approach

In this study, capability of a new developing method in soft tissue cancer detection is investigated which is called thermography . Thermography is a noninvasive technique which measures the temperature distribution of soft tissue. A numerical model of soft tissue including a cancerous tumor is proposed. Temperature variation on the tissue surface is obtained and symptom of tumor existence will be explored. Effects of two major tumor geometrical parameters which are depth and diameter are inspected. Moreover than the geometrical parameters of the tumor, the tissue itself plays an important role in tumor detection. Three different types of soft tissues including breast, brain and kidney with different thermal properties containing a predefined tumor inside the tissues are studied. Results include maximum temperature measured on the surface of the tissue, area on the surface containing sensible temperature gradient relative to the normal tissue and heat flux transferred to the arterial blood. It will be deduced that thermography has an acceptable performance in tumor detection over a wide range of soft tissue cancers.