Modeling thermography of the tumorous human breast: From forward problem to inverse problem solving

The abnormal thermogram has been shown to be a reliable indicator of a high risk of breast cancer. Nevertheless, a major weakness of current infrared breast thermography is its poor sensitivity for deeper tumors. Numerical modeling for breast thermography provides an effective tool to investigate the complex relationships between the breast thermal behaviors and the underlying pathophysiological conditions. Conventional “forward problem” modeling cannot be used to directly improve the tumor detectability, however, because the underlying tissue thermal properties are generally unknown. Based on our new comprehensive forward modeling, we propose an “inverse problem” modeling technique that aims to estimate tissue thermal properties from the breast surface thermogram. Our data suggest that the estimation of tumor-induced thermal contrast can be significantly improved by using the proposed inverse problem solving techniques to provide the individual-specific thermal background, especially for deeper tumors.