Numerical study of the effect of non-uniformly perfused tumor on heat transfer in women's breast during menstrual cycle under cold environment

In this paper, a model is proposed for heat transfer in women's breast with and without non-uniformly perfused tumour during menstrual cycle under cold environment. The important biophysical parameters like blood flow, metabolic activity and thermal conduction have been incorporated in the model. The physical condition of heat loss from outer surface of women's breast exposed to environment has been used to frame boundary conditions. The model is proposed for a two-dimensional hemi-spherical shaped women's breast. The triangular ring elements have been employed to discretize the region. The numerical solution is obtained for a steady-state case by finite element method. The effect of non-uniformly perfused tumor in women's breast during different phases of menstrual cycle has been studied with the help of numerical results. It is concluded that the thermal stress due to malignant tumor in woman's breast gets enhanced due to different phases of menstrual cycle and this information will be useful for developing more effective protocols of thermography for detection of tumors. Such models can be developed further to study the heat transfer processes in the women's breast due to various malignant and benign changes.