Thermometry is an image generated by convert infrared radiation emitted from the body into electrical impulses (radiometric image) that are displayed on a monitor in various colors34. The spectrum of colors based on a degrees scale indicates an increase or decrease in the infrared radiation or temperature being emitted from the body surface. An abnormality detected by thermal image indicates an area of temperature asymmetry in the body. Based on patterns of heat and blood flow on or near the surface of the body, thermometry has been utilized in an effort to detect, characterize, and monitor multiple diseases processes. Although thermography has already been demonstrated as a potential breast cancer detection mechanism35,36,37, VTM can become an important tool during image processing, through an AI system capable of detecting benign alterations and distant metastases, tumor textures and delimitation, tumor vascular supply, as demonstrated by the data of this study.
Presumptive samples without abnormalities may be artifacts, vascular changes, or initial pathological changes not found on histopathological examination. This image reflects a different generation of heat from the surroundings, demonstrating that the composition of matter in this location generates a molecular movement that differs from the surrounding region.
According to Jiang et al., (2010), the dynamic state of the breast exhibits distinct patterns, which makes it difficult to identify thermal signatures to identify tumors and metastases in the tissue38. A study by Jawzal (2018) indicates that thermography reflects, mainly, a heat map under the skin, but does not exactly locate the tumor for surgical purposes, and may cause confusion during the procedure, when the metabolic intensity of some tumors decreases.
The results found in this study, with the advancement of technology, are in contrast to those found by Jiang et al., (2010) and Jawzal (2018), since, among all the samples with alteration that were verified in the study, 62% were alterations neoplastic lesions distant from the primary tumor (Figure 4). This result is promising, as benign and malignant lesions that would not be detected by the conventional method were identified by VTM.
It is noteworthy that the identification of distant metastases was made through the use of thermal signatures of the tumor tissue. This data shows the efficiency not only of the VTM, but also the algorithm, which was able to identify the thermal signatures of the lesion and detect the same signature, enabling the detection of distant metastases from the primary tumor, even at a very early stage.
Another factor that may explain the success rate of the technique in this study was reported by Vardasca et al., (2018), in which it was demonstrated that temperature differences between the areas of lesions and the surrounding tissue can be used to differentiate neoplasms. In the case of benign neoplasms of the skin, if dynamic thermal imaging (DTI) and application of cold stress are used, sensitivity and specificity values of 95% and 83%, respectively, were observed.39. According to Sadeghi et al., (2019), both stationary and dynamic infrared images can detect a superficial tumor, but in dynamic exams they can considerably increase efficiency, due to their increased contrast and thermal events, providing greater specificity and allowing analyze different tumor depths, after cold provocative tests40. These data corroborate those found in this study.
The potential of invisible thermal radiation is far from being fully exploited, as small variations in temperature distribution may go undetected and minimal discrepancies may be masked and remain undetected, due to two factors: low efficiency of thermal image capture sensors and thermal image treatment software41. It is known that computing is no longer a limitation in the processing of large volumes of data and algorithms for image segmentation have been the object of attention. The infrared systems developed in the 1970s and 80s are excellent for industrial or military purposes, but may not meet the needs of medical imaging applications, because for these high-precision images to reach their potential, minimum hardware requirements are required needed in the clinical environment42. James et al., (2014) demonstrated that the integration between hardware and software ends up being a limiting factor for the processing and storage of the infrared image in real-time 43, Singh et al., (2019), point out in their study that existing intelligent systems need to improve the commercially viable interface to serve users and validate the diagnosis.
In this sense, it can be noted that the results found in this study are based on the efficiency between the algorithm interaction with the operator experience (Figure 5 and 6). Therefore, despite being in constant evolution, the efficiency of the AI in detecting similar thermal signatures indicates a great step forward for the use of video thermometry in the detection of tumors and distant metastases, making possible the formation of a database (Machine Learning) for the identification of lesions and artifacts, possibly being this one of the main differentials of the results found in this study, in relation to the others.
According to Hodorowicz et al., (2020), the use of thermography for the purpose of early detection of breast cancer showed higher efficiency than those found in other commonly used techniques, even when combined44. These same researchers show that despite the encouraging results found, there is still a long way to go, especially in the use of intelligent software for detecting the thermal variations emitted by tumors. These data corroborate those found in this study (Figure 5, 6, 7 and 8).
It is known that VTM inspection looks for textures, vascular formations, known tumor thermal impression and similar areas in relation to the surroundings indicative of dysfunction. We also know that heat comes from molecular movement, respecting the degree of freedom of each molecule, tissue, organ, fluid and, since each compound has its own emissivity, then, the logic, applied to homeotherms, should be better understood. Different metabolic intensities in nearby pixels, or thermal impressions similar to tumors at a distance, in a thermally controlled environment, are not a natural condition and, as homeotherms do not tend towards thermal equilibrium as materials do, both heat production and heat loss have the purpose of keeping the temperature stable, since most of the enzymes responsible for metabolic functioning act effectively at this temperature45.
Most natural surfaces form repetitive patterns of texture that can be recognized and differentiated by the human eye through characteristics such as smoothness, roughness and regularity46. Furthermore, a universal algorithm for image segmentation certainly does not exist47, but texture and shape can show organs, tissues and anomalies, which in most cases have specific textures and shapes48, therefore, software and algorithms can guide us in the range of the invisible and, if we consider that the occurrences are happening, we can say that the information is available and it is up to us to find ways to access it. Based on this, it is important to emphasize that this study was able to detect textures and thermal signatures (Figure 7 and 8). Despite an initial study, the data demonstrate an evolution between the thermometric data and the generated image, reducing the dependence on exclusive thermal analysis, since the image starts to bring more visual information and a big step towards understanding heat signatures for medical use.