The effect of geometry on tumor thermal profile and its use in tumor functional state estimation

Thermal differences between transplanted tumors and tumors in humans prevent the implementation of thermographic methods developed in mice models to human models and vise-versa. Transplantable tumors tend to have an extruding shape, which may affect the thermal patterns. This hypothesis was studied in phantom experiments and simulations. A correlation between tumor dimensions and relative temperature was found and used to estimate tumor functional state from previously published in vivo experiments. A correlation was found between temperature differences and tumor growth rates (tumor aggressiveness) and the effect of tumor treatment was demonstrated, showing the potential for in vivo, non-invasive tumor monitoring.