Feasibility for Using Thermography Throughout an Exercise Program in Mastectomized Patients

Maria Jane das Virgens Aquino; Paula Michele Dos Santos Leite; Ingrid Kyelli Lima Rodrigues; Josimari Melo DeSantana

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.740787

Feasibility for Using Thermography Throughout an Exercise Program in Mastectomized Patients

Front Oncol. 2022 Apr 14:12:740787. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.740787. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Maria Jane das Virgens Aquino¹, Paula Michele Dos Santos Leite¹, Ingrid Kyelli Lima Rodrigues¹, Josimari Melo DeSantana²

Affiliations

¹ Physiotherapy Department, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil.
² Physical Therapy Department, Graduate Program in Health Science, Graduate Program in Physiological Science, Federal University of Sergipe, São Cristóvão, Brazil.

Abstract

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common in the female population. Physical training is safe and indicated after surgical treatment for breast cancer. During exercise, body temperature changes due to tissue metabolic activity; in this sense, infrared thermography is used to map the thermal patterns of the body surface.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using thermography during a physical rehabilitation program in mastectomized patients by analyzing the change in body temperature caused by physical exercise in the breast region.

Methodology: This is a simple and covert clinical trial, in which the sample was constituted for convenience. The women were submitted to a supervised physical exercise protocol, three times a week, for 20 sessions. They were evaluated in the first, tenth, and twentieth sessions in relation to changes in body temperature in the breast region (infrared thermography).

Results: Twenty patients who underwent mastectomy surgery were recruited. No patient had drain infection, scar dehiscence, or lymphedema, and only one patient had seroma removed. The mean age was 50.45 ± 2.00 years, and the body mass index (BMI) was 28.95 ± 1.11 kg/m². In the body thermography of the patients' breast region, no significant difference was observed when comparing the thermograms of the plastron region of the patients in the first, tenth, and twentieth sessions (p = 0.201). However, when comparing the plastron region with the control breast, a reduction in temperature was observed in the operated region in the first (p = 0.012) and tenth sessions (p = 0.004).

Conclusion: Through this study, we can conclude that the use of infrared thermography is viable for the analysis of the body temperature of mastectomized patients during a supervised physical exercise protocol and, therefore, suggest that this instrument is increasingly used in the cancer public.

Keywords: breast neoplasm; exercise; feasibility studies; mastectomy; thermography.