Thermography has been proved to be an effective technique for indicating breast disease abnormalities or risks. However, the abnormalities might not express clearly due to various factors, such as when a small tumour is located in a deep region, or environmental influences that make breast disease difficult to find. This study aims to solve these problems for early detection of breast tumour. A three-dimensional breast model is presented to investigate the relationship between an embedded tumour and the surface temperature distribution. Then a subtraction technique is used to enhance the thermal signature of breast tumour. It was showed that the surface thermal characteristics of a small tumour even in a deep region could be found easily by this method. Furthermore, it was also found that the surface thermal characteristics of tumour obscured due to environmental cooling effect can be clearly displayed. The results are very useful for analysing breast thermograms.

ABSTRACT. We investigated the expression and clinical implications of enhancer of Zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) and p53 protein in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and precancerous lesions. EZH2 and p53 expressions in SCC (168), cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN)-I (19), , and normal tissues (30) were detected by streptavidin-peroxidase-conjugation. The correlation between coexpression of EZH2 and p53 protein and the clinic pathological features and prognosis of SCC were discussed. The positive expression rates of EZH2 and p53 were 6.7, 37.0, and 75.6%, and 3.3, 21.1, and 39.3% in normal cervical tissues, CIN, and SCC, respectively, which were significantly different (P < 0.05). The positive expression rate of EZH2 and p53 protein in SCC patients with and without lymph node metastasis was 82.9 and 70.4% (EZH2) and 45.7 and 34.7% (p53), respectively, which was also a significant difference (P < 0.05). The progression-free survival (PFS) rates in followed-up patients (N = 143) who were EZH2-and p53-negative, EZH2-or p53-positive, and EZH2- and p53-positive were 71.3 ± 1.9, 66.1 ± 2.0, and 51.3 ± 3.8 months, respectively, which was a significant difference (P < 0.001); the overall survival among these groups was 72.9 ± 1.1, 68.6 ± 1.8, and 57.4 ± 3.4 months, respectively (P < 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that EZH2 expression, lymph node metastasis, and tumor staging were independent prognostic factors of SCC. EZH2 and p53, which affect lymph node metastasis and prognosis of SCC, may play a key role in the occurrence and development of SCC.