Thermal infrared imaging produces non-contact temperature measurements and can be used to assess skin temperature with clinical applicability in women with breast cancer because the presence of a tumor in the breast alters local metabolism, expressed as a distinct temperature increase. 

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The physiological principle of thermography in medical imaging diagnostics is based on the
so-called dermo-temporal effect in which cancer cells have a higher metabolic rate.

 

In addition, the process of neoangiogenesis causes strong hypervascularization around the tumor core, which can occur even in the earliest stages of cancer development.

 

In the tumor microenvironment 1 mm in diameter, there are enough proangiogenic factors to form a completely new vascular network. This phenomenon leads to permanent, localized temperature abnormalities that can be observed on the surface of the examined breast.