Why Do Radiologists Disown Breast Thermography? A Critical Review of Recent Studies and Recommendations

Abstract

Thermography was first applied to breast cancer detection in the 1950s but fell out of favor among radiologists due to inconsistent and inconclusive findings in the following decades. Studies conducted in the 21st century using new-generation thermal cameras and computer vision techniques, particularly artificial intelligence, have reported sensitivity and specificity values comparable to those of mammography. However, most radiologists, being unaware of these results, still believe this technique is ineffective, and medical societies advise against using it, even as an adjunct to mammography. In this paper we review recent studies and discuss whether the recommendations of scientific societies are still valid in the light of new evidence. We also propose some ideas for standardizing breast thermography studies that could help make this technique acceptable to the radiology community.

Keywords: breast cancer; infrared imaging; screening; thermography.

Figure 1

Breast thermogram.

Figure 2

Number of publications about breast thermography in PubMed, on 13 January 2025. Search term: “breast” AND (“thermography” OR “thermographic” OR “thermal imaging” OR “thermal infrared” OR “thermogram” OR “infrared imaging” OR “infrared thermography”) in the title.