Thermographic evaluation of early melanoma within the vascularized skin using combined non-Newtonian blood flow and bioheat models

Abstract A theoretical study on vascularized skin model to predict the thermal evaluation criteria of early melanoma using the dynamic thermal imaging technique is presented in this article. Thermographic evaluation of melanoma has been carried out during the thermal recovery of skin from undercoole...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers in biology and medicine 2014-10, Vol.53, p.206-219
Main Authors: Bhowmik, Arka, Repaka, Ramjee, Mishra, Subhash C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioheat equation
Early melanoma
Heat
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted - methods
Internal Medicine
Medical diagnosis
Melanoma
Melanoma - blood supply
Melanoma - diagnosis
Metabolism
Models, Biological
Non-Newtonian blood flow
Other
Skin - blood supply
Skin cancer
Skin Temperature
Studies
Thermal imaging
Thermography
Thermography - methods
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract A theoretical study on vascularized skin model to predict the thermal evaluation criteria of early melanoma using the dynamic thermal imaging technique is presented in this article. Thermographic evaluation of melanoma has been carried out during the thermal recovery of skin from undercooled condition. During thermal recovery, the skin has been exposed to natural convection, radiation, and evaporation. The thermal responses of melanoma have been evaluated by integrating the bioheat model for multi-layered skin with the momentum as well as energy conservation equations for blood flow. Differential changes in the surface thermal response of various melanoma stages except that of the early stage have been determined. It has been predicted that the thermal response due to subsurface blood flow overpowers the response of early melanoma. Hence, the study suggests that the quantification of early melanoma diagnosis using thermography has not reached a matured stage yet. Therefore, the study presents a systematic analysis of various intermediate melanoma stages to determine the thermal evaluation criteria of early melanoma. The comprehensive modeling effort made in this work supports the prediction of the disease outcome and relates the thermal response with the variation in patho-physiological, thermal and geometrical parameters.
ISSN:0010-4825
1879-0534
DOI:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2014.08.002