Thermal Cameras in Modern Medicine

Cancer is said to be a dangerous disease; however it is not necessary that all cancer patients die, as with the timely detection and treatment it is possible to survive from cancer. Today medical science has turned to technology to help them detect cancer cells and prevent its spread which is made possible through infrared cameras.

The infrared camera was first designed for use in the military. It is a thermographic camera that uses infrared radiation to create images and has today become the equipment of choice not only for law enforcers, archaeologists and intelligence officers but also by doctors.

Infrared cameras are effective in detecting breast cancer as it can identify the vascular thermal patterns in breasts, the early signs of breast cancer. It is through thermography that vascular conditions called angiogenesis are detected many years before a mammogram can actually detect them.

By using Infrared thermography, the infrared camera measures the different temperatures that occur in different body parts. With this information, the camera creates pictures depicting areas of the body where it depicts abnormal cell growth as abnormal tissues usually emit more heat then normal tissues. This is why unusual cell growth shows up well with an infrared camera.

Infrared cameras are also being tried to map out roots of skin cancer by distinguishing between cancerous and non-cancerous lesions. If successful, this procedure will eliminate the need of expensive physical examinations and tissue biopsies.

Removal of brain tumors is rather difficult as it is possible that doctors may accidentally remove healthy tissues with cancer cells or even leave cancer cells to regrow into tumors. This is why doctors are now trying to find out tumor margins by recognizing temperature changes in surgery as tumor cells emit more heat than healthy ones, with the help of infrared cameras.

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