Thermography as a predictor of prognosis in cancer of the breast.

Abstract

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.