Mathematical modeling of temperature mapping over skin surface and its implementation in thermal disease diagnostics

In non-invasive thermal diagnostics, accurate correlations between the thermal image on skin surface and interior human pathophysiology are often desired, which require general solutions for the bioheat equation. In this study, the Monte Carlo method was implemented to solve the transient three-dimensional bio-heat transfer problem with non-linear boundary conditions (simultaneously with convection, radiation and evaporation) and space-dependent thermal physiological parameters. Detailed computations indicated that the thermal states of biological bodies, reflecting physiological conditions, could be correlated to the temperature or heat flux mapping recorded at the skin surface. The effect of the skin emissivity and humidity, the convective heat transfer coefficient, the relative humidity and temperature of the surrounding air, the metabolic rate and blood perfusion rate in the tumor, and the tumor size and number on the sensitivity of thermography are comprehensively investigated. Moreover, several thermal criteria for disease diagnostic were proposed based on statistical principles. Implementations of this study for the clinical thermal diagnostics are discussed.