“The table we designed and made in the lab has a giant hole in the center of it—which gets a lot of laughs when I first bring patients into the room,” she said. The laughter helps break the ice as the serious imaging begins, she added.
Thermography studies have been done in the past, but the technology today is more sensitive and it is through these advancements that the RIT team has been able to show far more detail in images and validate tumor locations. The infrared test takes 20 minutes compared to an MRI which may take up to 45 minutes.
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“Current screening modalities rely heavily on digital mammography but this technique has shortcomings, particularly in the significant subset of women who have dense breast tissue. Infrared imaging, using our technique is easy, quick, non-invasive and cost effective,” said Phatak. “Our preliminary data suggest that it may be a very sensitive adjunct to routine screening mammography. Further studies are needed to decide the best way to utilize this technology in practice.”
Initial funding for the project was provided by the National Science Foundation through the Early Concept Grants for Exploratory Research program. Grants are given for early stage, potentially transformative research, and the RIT-RRHS team received funding for two-years of work to screen patients and correlate infrared images against original MRI images, to provide validation of the overall process and technology.
Taking the images is only one part of the process. The team is also using advanced computer simulation technology to do predictive analysis on tumor locations and growth. This is similar to artificial intelligence where computing systems can ‘learn’ to aid diagnosis. Acquiring data about tumor types, size, progression of growth and locations can help physicians assess advancement of disease and determine interventions. Data acquired is based on a highly scientific approach employing advanced mathematical tools, said Kandlikar.
“We believe that our approach will provide a cost-effective and reliable adjunctive tool that is non-radiative and no contact. It is equally effective with dense breast tissue and is well suited to serve remote and underserved populations,” he said. “It is time it receives the attention it deserves through large-scale clinical studies.”
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