3D Thermal Source Detection for Dense Breast Tumor Screening
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing breast cancer detection methods, particularly mammography, struggle with low sensitivity and specificity in dense breasts, leading to underdiagnosis and misdiagnosis, and alternative techniques like MRI are costly and invasive.
Innovation Solution
A method using multi-view thermal imaging and a physics-informed neural network (PINN) analyzer to detect heat sources indicative of cancerous tumors by analyzing thermal and spatial information on the breast surface, without radiation or compression, and estimating tumor size and location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mammography is used for breast cancer screening, then screening coverage is achieved, but detection accuracy is low in dense breasts due to masking effects
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces thermal imaging as an intermediary detection method that measures heat generation from tumor metabolism rather than relying on X-ray penetration through dense tissue. This mediator approach bypasses the masking problem by detecting a different physical property (thermal signature) that is not obscured by breast density.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/X-ray based mammography system with a thermal detection system that measures temperature distributions. This substitution uses thermal energy detection instead of ionizing radiation, avoiding the fundamental limitation of X-ray masking in dense tissues.
2Reliability
If MRI is used for improved cancer detection, then detection accuracy increases, but cost and invasiveness increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs relatively simple and inexpensive thermal imaging cameras instead of complex MRI systems. The thermal imaging devices are much more affordable, portable, and easier to operate, providing a cost-effective alternative while maintaining diagnostic value through detection of metabolic heat patterns.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the essential diagnostic function (detecting cancerous tissue) from the complex MRI system and implements it through a simpler thermal imaging approach. By focusing only on thermal signature detection rather than comprehensive anatomical imaging, the system achieves the critical diagnostic capability with reduced complexity and cost.
3Ease of manufacture
If empirical pattern recognition methods are used for thermal image analysis, then implementation is simple, but accuracy is low due to lack of scientific basis
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the analysis from empirical pattern recognition to physics-based parameter estimation by changing the fundamental approach from comparing visual patterns to solving heat transfer equations. This parameter change enables accurate quantification of tumor properties (size, location, heat generation rate) based on thermal conductivity and metabolic heat production models.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a physics-based mathematical model that copies and simulates the actual heat transfer processes in breast tissue. By using governing equations that replicate the physical phenomena (heat conduction, metabolic heat generation), the system achieves accurate predictions without relying on empirical correlations or pattern matching.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Improves cancer detection accuracy in dense breasts by identifying heat sources indicative of tumors, providing a non-invasive and cost-effective adjunct to existing breast cancer screening modalities.
Implementation Method 1
Breast cancer is associated with increased heat generation due to higher metabolism in the tumor and increased blood vessels resulting from angiogenesis.
Implementation Method 2
The presence of heat source results in thermal alterations on the breast surface and surface temperatures are accordingly affected.
Data Source
AI summary
Processes, algorithms and techniques are disclosed for detecting the presence of a source of at least one of heat, mass, momentum, energy, electrical field, and species in a system, such as, for identifying the presence of a heat source and its 3D location within a body part, and also to identify absence of a heat source within the body part. Multi-view thermal images are obtained of the body part and thermal and spatial information in different views are obtained. Iterative algorithms are developed to determine the presence of a heat source in the body part by employing the Physics-Informed Neural Network analyzer. Methods of generating a spatial-point-cloud and thermal-spatial-point-cloud are disclosed.