Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 52. No. 1., 2013.
Original scientific paper
Influence of Hormonal Status on Thermography Findings in Breast Cancer
Zvonimir Zore
Ivanka Boras
Mladen Stanec
Tomislav Orešić
Irina Filipović Zore
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the association of infrared imaging
findings and hormone receptor (estrogen and progesterone) status in breast cancers. The study was
carried out at Department of Surgical Oncology and Department of Pathology, Sestre milosrdnice
University Hospital Center, in collaboration with licensed infrared thermography experts. The study
involved 75 female patients with invasive breast tumors. Thermography findings were compared
with different immunohistochemical findings (hormone status positive or negative). Seventy-five
female patients aged 36 to 86 years, mean age 64±11.36 years, were examined. The tumor itself and
the breast containing the tumor were statistically significantly warmer (p<0.001) than the healthy
breast in all study patients. There was no statistically significant difference (p>0.05) between patients
with positive and those with negative estrogen receptors. Unlike all previously published results
of various thermographic studies, results obtained in this study on the hormone receptor status
analyzed and its impact on thermographic findings indicated that estrogen negative tumors had a
higher maximum and average temperature than estrogen positive tumors. It was also observed that
estrogen negative tumors had lower impact on warming of the entire breast, and that maximum and
average temperature of the affected breast was higher in estrogen positive tumors. Arithmetic means
of maximum and average tumor temperatures were statistically significantly higher for progesterone
negative tumors compared with progesterone positive tumors (p<0.05). Thermographic findings
correlated with the specific hormonal status of breast invasive tumors, which reflects the biological
behavior of tumors as well as their clinical variables.
Keywords
Infrared thermography; Hormone receptors; Breast cancer
Hrčak ID:
110613
URI
Publication date:
1.1.2013.
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