Breast thermography: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Medical imaging
• Oncology
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Breast thermography, initially developed in the 1950s, faced challenges due to inconsistent results.
• Modern advancements in infrared technology and image processing have revitalized interest in thermography.
• This review assesses current scientific evidence on digital infrared imaging for breast cancer detection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an updated and objective evaluation of breast thermography's effectiveness.
• To analyze its utility as both a breast cancer screening and diagnostic tool.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search of PubMed and Scopus for studies published between 2001 and May 2023.
• Inclusion criteria: digital long-wave infrared imaging studies evaluating breast cancer detection, reporting sensitivity/specificity, and using self-collected images with at least five cancer cases.
• Meta-analysis of pooled sensitivity and specificity, including bivariate meta-analysis for correlated metrics.

Main Results:

• Twenty-two studies were included, yielding an average pooled sensitivity of 88.5% and specificity of 71.8%.
• Significant heterogeneity was observed across studies (79.3% for sensitivity, 99.1% for specificity) due to variations in patient selection, protocols, and equipment.
• While sensitivity was consistently high, specificity showed improvement over time.

Conclusions:

• Breast thermography demonstrates high sensitivity for detecting breast cancer, with improving specificity in recent years.
• The latest studies indicate performance comparable to standard diagnostic methods, particularly in larger trials with diverse patient populations.
• Further research in larger, diverse cohorts is warranted to fully establish its role in breast cancer diagnostics.