Thermography as a predictor of prognosis in cancer of the breast.
Although thermography is generally considered to lack sufficient sensitivity to be a useful in diagnosis of cancer of the breast, the association of a thermal abnormality with some breast cancers cannot be discounted. Breast cancers demonstrating such a thermographic abnormality have been reported to be associated with decreased survival when compared with patients with no such change. In a study of 214 patients confirmed to have breast cancer without distant metastases, 121 were found to have a thermographic abnormality. Patients whose tumors were thermographically abnormal had significantly larger primary lesions and a higher proportion of metastatic axillary lymph nodes. However, both the 5-year survival and the 5-year disease-free survival were not significantly different from patients who had no thermographic abnormality.
Sterns
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Department of Surgery, Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Zee
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D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002278:Carcinoma in Situ / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D013817:Thermography / Q000379:methods*