Numerical modelling of skin tumour tissue with temperature-dependent properties for dynamic thermography

Iljaž, Jurij; Wrobel, L.C.; Hriberšek, Matjaž; Marn, Jure

doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2019.103367

Cited by 22 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Pennes’ model uses the modified transient heat conduction equation and two heat sources, both per unit of time and volume: a heat source due to the metabolic effect, and a heat source due to the energy exchange between tissue and blood [41]. Besides, a source of external heat could be included but it does not match the protocol of exams considered in this work [42, 43].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A computational study on the role of parameters for identification of thyroid nodules by infrared images (and its comparison with real data)

Montero

Damiao

Moran

et al. 2021

Preprint

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According to experts and medical literature, a healthy thyroid gland, or a thyroid containing benign nodules, tend to be less inflamed and less active than one with malignant nodules. It seems to be a consensus that malignant nodules have more blood veins and it may be related to the maintenance of high and constant temperatures. Investigation of these characteristics, detectable by infrared sensors, and answering if they constitute patterns of malignancy are the aims of this work. Experiments considering biological heat transfer analysis by Finite Element numerical simulations are used to show the influence of nodule and patient characteristics on the identification of malignancy of thyroid nodule by thermography. The used and approved protocol for infrared examination are analyzed and simulated during all its phase that is on transient and steady state behavior, in order to verify how and when their influence can be really recognized in patients. Simulation results and the analysis of infrared exams show that the tissues between the skin and the thyroid, as well as the nodule size, have influence in superficial temperatures. Other thermal parameters of thyroid nodules are also investigated and show little influence on surface temperatures. These characteristics must be considered in nodular infrared analysis and diagnosis by thermography. The infrared examinations of patients that meet the hypotheses related to the vascularization of the nodule confirm the numerical results. All details of the physical parameters used in the simulations, characteristics of the nodules, and their complete thermal examinations are public and available, turning possible that the presented simulation could be compared with other types of heat transfer solutions. This study is a concrete contribution to the answer of under what conditions thermography can be useful in the identification of thyroid nodules.Author summaryThyroid nodules are very common health problems. These nodules may have different characteristics, and some of them could influence the temperature of the region. Many works in the medical literature report that the healthy thyroid and even benign nodules tend to be less inflamed and active than malignant nodules and therefore should exhibit some variation in patterns of behavior related to the temperature variation between them. The focus of this work is to analyze some parameters of the nodules and details of the patients that can influence the identification and diagnosis of thyroid nodules by infrared images. To reach the objective, simulations of bioheat transfer in the neck (using a simple neck geometry and Finite Elements Analysis in COMSOL Multiphysics Software) and real infrared examinations (performed with a FLIR Infrared Camera model SC620 and a proposed protocol) were analyzed. Our results show the thermal insulation effect of the neck fat tissue, and that the effect of nodule sizes can be decremented by a thicker layer of fat. The analysis of the nodule parameters as blood perfusion rate and metabolic heat, which could be related with the nodule vascularization (an important condition related with malignancy), suggest that the thermal effects of thyroid nodules on the neck surface are not sufficient to differentiate benign from malign, and for this other features or methods must be considered.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The temperature range is obtained for a homogeneous, solid, and linear biological medium with isotropic thermal properties [41]. The energy balance assumes that blood flow within the tissue is promoted at the capillary level, i.e., the capillaries are assumed to be oriented concerning their arterial and venous connections [41].…”

Section: Neck Simplified Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

A computational study on the role of parameters for identification of thyroid nodules by infrared images (and its comparison with real data)

Montero

Damiao

Moran

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…At the same time, chemical and electrical effects are neglected in the model [ 41 ]. Pennes’ model uses the modified transient heat conduction equation and two heat sources, both per unit of time and volume: One due to the metabolic effect, and the other due to the energy exchange between tissue and blood [ 46 ]. An external source could be included but it does not match the protocol of exams here considered [ 47 , 48 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Computational Study on the Role of Parameters for Identification of Thyroid Nodules by Infrared Images (and Comparison with Real Data)

González

Damião

Morán

et al. 2021

Sensors

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According to experts and medical literature, healthy thyroids and thyroids containing benign nodules tend to be less inflamed and less active than those with malignant nodules. It seems to be a consensus that malignant nodules have more blood veins and more blood circulation. This may be related to the maintenance of the nodule’s heat at a higher level compared with neighboring tissues. If the internal heat modifies the skin radiation, then it could be detected by infrared sensors. The goal of this work is the investigation of the factors that allow this detection, and the possible relation with any pattern referent to nodule malignancy. We aim to consider a wide range of factors, so a great number of numerical simulations of the heat transfer in the region under analysis, based on the Finite Element method, are performed to study the influence of each nodule and patient characteristics on the infrared sensor acquisition. To do so, the protocol for infrared thyroid examination used in our university’s hospital is simulated in the numerical study. This protocol presents two phases. In the first one, the body under observation is in steady state. In the second one, it is submitted to thermal stress (transient state). Both are simulated in order to verify if it is possible (by infrared sensors) to identify different behavior referent to malignant nodules. Moreover, when the simulation indicates possible important aspects, patients with and without similar characteristics are examined to confirm such influences. The results show that the tissues between skin and thyroid, as well as the nodule size, have an influence on superficial temperatures. Other thermal parameters of thyroid nodules show little influence on surface infrared emissions, for instance, those related to the vascularization of the nodule. All details of the physical parameters used in the simulations, characteristics of the real nodules and thermal examinations are publicly available, allowing these simulations to be compared with other types of heat transfer solutions and infrared examination protocols. Among the main contributions of this work, we highlight the simulation of the possible range of parameters, and definition of the simulation approach for mapping the used infrared protocol, promoting the investigation of a possible relation between the heat transfer process and the data obtained by infrared acquisitions.

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“…This difficulty is overcome by the dynamic thermography due to the created thermal stresses by cooling the investigated tissue. Such an approach allows to have higher temperature contrast during the diagnostic process that can be easily observed 12,24 . Thereby, the recorded temperature measurements can be exploited to identify several tumor parameters (like position, size, and blood perfusion rate) by means of solving an inverse problem.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It consists in creating thermal stress by cooling or heating the investigated tissue followed by quantifying the thermal response during the testing phase, which does not require patient acclimatization and can provide more information about the skin under examination. 1,3,5,6,8,12,18,19 It has been reported by many research studies that the dynamic IR thermography has an important advantage over the FIGURE 1 Layers of skin tissue 30 [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] static one and can be successfully used in dermatology for early skin tumor detection. 1,3,5,6,8,12,13,[18][19][20] Indeed, skin lesion has higher metabolic heat generation and blood perfusion rate 12,[21][22][23] than the healthy skin, which reflected in temperature variations that can be recorded using IR cameras.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identification of an embedded tumor using the thermography process and the topological sensitivity analysis method

Abdelwahed

Chorfi

Ghezaiel

2021

Math Methods in App Sciences

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This work is concerned with a geometric inverse problem related to the thermography concept. The aim is the identification of the shape, size and location of a small embedded tumor from measured temperature on the skin surface.The temperature distribution in the biological tissue is governed by the Pennes model equation. Our proposed approach is based on the Kohn-Vogelius formulation and the topological sensitivity analysis method. The ill-posed geometric inverse problem is reformulated as a topology optimization one. The topological gradient is exploited for locating the zone containing the embedded tumor.The size and shape of the infected zone are approximated using the solution of a scalar parameter estimate problem. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed approach are justified by some numerical simulations.

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Numerical modelling of skin tumour tissue with temperature-dependent properties for dynamic thermography

Cited by 22 publications

References 59 publications

A computational study on the role of parameters for identification of thyroid nodules by infrared images (and its comparison with real data)

A computational study on the role of parameters for identification of thyroid nodules by infrared images (and its comparison with real data)

A Computational Study on the Role of Parameters for Identification of Thyroid Nodules by Infrared Images (and Comparison with Real Data)

Identification of an embedded tumor using the thermography process and the topological sensitivity analysis method

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