Breast thermography as a screening technique. An evaluation of performance data.

The concepts of relative operating characteristics (ROC-curves) and detectability index (d') are introduced for the purpose of evaluating performance in breast thermography. In assessing published information on the subject we have found that much of it is anecdotal and lacks sufficient data to determine performance. We have also found that for those published findings which had sufficient data it was possible to reconcile conflicting conclusions as to the efficacy of thermography, and that performance could be quantitated with the use of the detectability index. Conclusions for optimizing available clinical thermographic techniques are given together with ways for future improvement.