CNN-Based Approach for Non-Invasive Estimation of Breast Tumor Size and Location Using Thermographic Images

The characterization of tumors is crucial for guiding appropriate treatment strategies and enhancing patient survival rates. Surface thermography shows promise in the non-invasive detection of thermal patterns associated with the existence of breast tumors. Nevertheless, the precise prediction of both tumor size and location using temperature characteristics presents a critical challenge. This is due to the limited availability of thermal images labeled with the corresponding tumor size and location. This work proposes a deep learning approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNN) in combination with thermographic images for estimating breast tumor size and location. Successive COMSOL-based simulations are conducted, including a 3D breast model with various tumor scenarios. Thus, different noise levels were included in the development of the thermographic image dataset. Every image was accordingly labeled with the corresponding tumor location and size to train the CNN model. Mean absolute error (MAE) and the coefficient of determination (R²) were considered as evaluation metrics. The results show that the proposed CNN model achieved a reasonable prediction performance with MAE–R² values of 0.872–98.6% for tumor size, 1.161–96.8% for x location, 1.086–97.1% for y location, and 0.954–96.7% for z location. This study indicates that the combination of surface thermography and deep learning is a convenient tool for predicting breast tumor parameters.