Research Article Evaluation of the Diagnostic Power of Thermography in Breast Cancer Using Bayesian Network Classifiers

Copyright © 2013 Cruz-Ramı́rez Nicandro et al.This is an open access article distributed under the Creative CommonsAttribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in anymedium, provided the originalwork is properly cited. Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death among women worldwide.There are a number of techniques used for diagnosing this disease: mammography, ultrasound, and biopsy, among others. Each of these has well-known advantages and disadvantages. A relatively newmethod, based on the temperature a tumor may produce, has recently been explored: thermography. In this paper, we will evaluate the diagnostic power of thermography in breast cancer using Bayesian network classifiers. We will show how the information provided by the thermal image can be used in order to characterize patients suspected of having cancer. Our main contribution is the proposal of a score, based on the aforementioned information, that could help distinguish sick patients from healthy ones. Our main results suggest the potential of this technique in such a goal but also show its main limitations that have to be overcome to consider it as an effective diagnosis complementary tool. 1