Gazi University, which was selected as one of the 10 research universities in 2017, has made an important scientific study worthy of its name. Gazi University has developed a Medical Thermography device that can detect cancerous tissues in an early stage by imaging the temperature changes in the human body with infrared cameras.

The device that can detect cancer in the initial phase does not give any radiation to the body. It also perceives this temperature anomaly when comparing the temperature increase in one side with the other tissues in the symmetry within a period of 15 minutes, and when there is a different value in between.

Director of Biomedical Calibration and Research Center of Gazi University Prof. Dr. İrfan Karagöz stated that they started the Medical Thermal Imaging Device Development project in 2014 with the support of TÜBİTAK Technology and Innovation Support Programs (TEYDEB) at Gazi Technopolis as a result of 10 years of R & D activity including scientific studies for early diagnosis of breast cancer.

Karagöz stated that they developed MISTHER-Medical Thermal Imaging Device as a result of a three-year study in this context, and he stated that the thermographic imaging technique used in the device was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an adjunctive screening method for breast cancer diagnosis.

Noting that all testing and certification processes related to the MISTHER device was completed in 2017 and that the device was registered with the Ministry of Health Product Tracking System (UTS), Karagöz stated that the device is now available for diagnostic purposes.

Karagöz said that the thermographic imaging method is a noninvasive diagnostic method that only detects the temperature changes of the patient's body without giving any radiation to the patient and said that they can diagnose diseases such as thyroid, skin and breast cancer with images taken in a very short time based on thermal symmetry.

Trial on patients is successful

Karagöz pointed out that anatomically based imaging methods such as mammography, tomography, MR, ultrasonography can detect cancerous cells after a certain period of time and he added "but the physiological development of the cancerous cell has already begun. With the thermography device, cancerous tissues at the initial stage can be detected."

Karagöz stated that they obtained some data on the patients in the mammography unit of the Gazi University Medical Faculty and added that they had taken thermal images and analyzed the 271 patients. Karagöz said: "As stated by the FDA, scientific researches show that the use of physiologically based thermal imaging as an auxiliary and complementary technique in addition to anatomically based imaging methods such as mammography, ultrasound and MR, which are used in routine mammary cancer examinations are very helpful in the correct diagnosis of the illness. In this context, our clinical assessments of 271 patients who have been applied by routine medical techniques as well as Medical Thermal Imaging Device have resulted in a diagnostic fit of over 90 percent. In this system, which uses thermal asymmetry technique, three degrees of change are detected between healthy and cancerous breast tissues of the same patient. "

Prof. Dr. İrfan Karagöz said that it is possible to use the device in breast cancer as well as in thyroid and skin diseases and said "It is also used in the diagnosis of cancer of a wide spectrum of diseases such as muscle, vein, nerve, skin, dental diseases, orthopedics and pain analysis. Examples are muscle ruptures, circulatory system diseases, acute and chronic back pain, migraine, facial palsy, spinal nerve injuries, rheumatism, arthritis, muscle injuries, stroke fractures, spinal pain syndromes."