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Artificial intelligent tools to analyze thermographic images. Assisting in early

diagnosis of illnesses

Conference Paper · August 2016

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Sánchez Pariente John C Cancilla

Complutense University of Madrid Scintillon Institute
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Regina Aroca-Santos Jose S. Torrecilla

Complutense University of Madrid Complutense University of Madrid
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Artificial intelligent tools to analyze thermographic images. Assisting in
early diagnosis of illnesses

E. S. Pariente, J. C. Cancilla, G. Matute, R. Aroca-Santos, J. S. Torrecilla*

Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad
Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain; Tel. +34913944244, email: jstorre@ucm.es.

Abstract
All types of objects at room temperature emit infrared radiation. This is an invisible
electromagnetic radiation (ER) which possesses longer wavelengths than the visible spectrum
(700 nm). Therefore, this ER transmits lower quantities of energy than the visible radiation.
Given that infrared radiation is emitted by every object because of its temperature, their
measurement does not imply and hazard to the environment or to the human being and,
therefore, it can be successfully used in very different sectors.
It is important to note that with the measurement of the infrared radiation, the temperature
variation, with the position and time of a given object, can be determined very precisely. That
is, anomalous sources of heat can be accurately located thus enabling the identification of
malfunctions in equipment that originate a variation of their temperature, even during the
earliest stages. This is why this technique is widely used to estimate the performance of
industrial applications, such as maintenance of equipment, monitoring electric installations or
chemical engineering process, and so on [1,2]. The most relevant aspect is the selection of the
most adequate sensor to determine this heat or temperature variation in the most reliable way
possible. It is important to select an equipment with a proper temperature sensitivity, as well
as spatial resolution. [3]
Since 400 BC, temperature has been proven to be a very good indicator of health and it has
been used for clinical diagnosis [3]. Currently, following this important historical concept,
this technique can be applied to detect illnesses early or to control the postsurgical period. It is
important to highlight that due to the low ER used and the need of locating the point at an
anomalous temperature in the body, this thermographic technique is only reliable to capture
heat generation which is close to the human being’s surface. This is why this technique is
more than adequate to assist in the diagnosis different types of cancer, diabetic disorders,
rheumatic diseases, gynecological illnesses, dental problems, and so on. [3] In this line, the
main objective of this work is to mathematically treat the thermographic images for the early
diagnosis of skin cancer and to evaluate the possibility to extrapolate these algorithms to other
types of illnesses and to control the evolution of the postsurgical status of patients.
Given the mathematical nature of these thermal images, after statistical pre-treatment of the
matrixes that come from the thermal images, these values are introduced as independent
variables in the supervised algorithm to classify the illness as a skin cancer or not. The target
samples used have been classified as skin cancer or not by medical experts who works in
several Spanish Hospitals. The mathematical algorithms used here are mainly based on
supervised neural networks in combination with other linear and non-linear algorithms [4]. In
the preliminary studies carried out up to now, and using published thermographic images, the
ratio of correct diagnosis was higher than 80%. In addition to this, currently, the application
of these algorithms to head and neck cancer and to control the postsurgical status of patients is
being successfully done as well.
In conclusion, these promising preliminary results open the door to the diagnosis of skin
cancer with thermographic images, giving more information to the oncologist to reach reliable
 early diagnosis of this cancer in combination with other commonly employed techniques.
Infrared thermal imaging is becoming a medical diagnostic tool to measure abnormal
temperature patterns originated by illnesses. It is important to note that the integration of the
aforementioned mathematical algorithms and thermographic images will result in a fast and
inexpensive methodology which is easy to employ and implement.

References
[1] A.S.N. Huda, S. Taib, K.H. Ghazali, M.S. Jadin. A new thermographic NDT for condition
monitoring of electrical components using ANN with confidence level analysis. ISA
Transactions 53 (2014) 717–724
[2] A.S.N Huda, Soib Taib. Application of infrared thermography for predictive/preventive
maintenance of thermal defect in electrical equipment. Applied Thermal Engineering 61
(2013) 220-227.
[3] B.B. Lahiri, S. Bagavathiappan, T. Jayakumar, John Philip. Medical applications of
infrared thermography: A review. Infrared Physics & Technology 55 (2012) 221–235.
[4] D. Hernandez-Contreras, H. Peregrina-Barreto, J. Rangel-Magdaleno, J. Ramirez-Cortes,
F. Renero-Carrillo. Automatic classification of thermal patterns in diabetic foot based on
morphological pattern spectrum. Infrared Physics & Technology 73 (2015) 149–157.

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