The association of infrared imaging findings of the breast with prognosis in breast cancer patients: an observational cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundTo evaluate whether infrared (IR) imaging findings are associated with prognosis in patients with invasive breast carcinomas.MethodsThis study was approved by the institutional review board of the research ethics committee of our hospital, and all participants gave written informed consent. From March 2005 to June 2007, we enrolled 143 patients with invasive breast cancer that underwent preoperative IR imaging. We used five IR signs to interpret breast IR imaging. Cox proportional hazards model was used to evaluate the effect of IR signs on long-term mortality.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 2451 days (6.7 years), 31 patients died. Based on the Cox Proportional Hazards Model, IR1 sign (the temperature of cancer site minus that of the contralateral mirror imaging site) was positively associated with mortality in the univariate analysis (overall mortality hazard ratio [HR], 2.29; p = 0.03; disease-specific mortality HR, 2.57; p = 0.04) as well as the multivariate analysis after controlling for clinicopathological factors (overall mortality HR, 3.85; p = 0.01; disease-specific mortality HR, 3.91, p = 0.02). In patients with clinical stage I and II disease, IR1 was also positively associated with mortality (overall mortality HR, 3.76; p = 0.03; disease-specific mortality HR, 4.59; p = 0.03). Among patients with node-negative disease, IR1 and IR5 (asymmetrical thermographic pattern) were associated with mortality (p = 0.04 for both IR1 and IR5, chi-squared test).ConclusionBreast IR findings are associated with mortality in patients with invasive breast carcinomas. The association remained in patients with node-negative disease.Trial registrationNCT00166998.

Statistical Considerations and Tools to Improve Histopathologic Protocols with Spectroscopic Imaging

“…6 Digital histopathological characterization has also been proposed for a variety of tissue types, including liver, 7,8 lymph node analysis, 9,10 kidney, 11,12 lung adenocarcinoma, 13 brain tumors, [14][15][16] head and neck tumors, 17 oral cavity, 18 prostate, 19,20 bone, [21][22][23] colon, [24][25][26][27][28] and breast. 6,[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] In general, for these varieties of tissue types and diseases, spectroscopic imaging is coupled to a variety of data mining approaches. Recent developments in the capabilities of analytical instruments designed for vibrational IR spectroscopy to resolve microscopic structures have drastically advanced the feasibility of IR spectroscopic imaging for routine histopathology.…”