From the last decades, infrared thermography is quite often associated with things other than clinical medicine. For example, the chemical, automobile, aeronautic industries and civil engineering. However, thermography is where infrared images of the breast are analyzed by board certified thermographers and an abnormal thermogram is reported as the significant risk for the existence of breast tumor (Ng, 2009). Thermography is a painless, noninvasive, no radiation, as well as being cheaper and faster, easier access. The aim of this review was to identify the views of clinicians on the use of thermography for quantifying the risk of breast cancer. We used articles published recently in a reliable database. Thermography has been convicted over the years; it has been labeled by subjective interpretation. Most of the reviewed articles agree that mammography is currently the main examination chosen by doctors for the screening of breast cancer (Acharya et al., 2010; Kennedy et al., 2009). However, several studies have reported promising results for the technique (Wang et al., 2010). Additionally, some authors suggest that thermography is complementary to other diagnostic methods, and that the best strategy for the early detection of breast cancer would be to use them together (Kennedy et al., 2009; Hersh, 2004). The combination of thermal imaging with other tests would increase accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of the evaluation and allow a better quantification of the risk of breast cancer.

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The corrosion casting method allows for the three-dimensional observations of capillary networks. However, a major disadvantage of this method is that it requires the removal of all tissues around the vasculature. In this study, we overcame this limitation by using a casting plastic resin (Mercox®) with fluorescence characteristics to visualize the capillary networks in the non-corroded cochlear stria vascularis of gerbils and rats. The capillary networks were imaged using confocal microscopy. Upon excitation with a 633 nm laser light, the fluorescent resin exhibited intense fluorescence, and optical sections through the specimens were used to construct three-dimensional images. Double labeling of strial functional proteins, including type IV collagen, facilitated glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1), and inward rectifying K⁺ channel 4.1 (Kir4.1), with the capillary lumen (visualized with the fluorescent resin) was used to determine the structural relationships in the stria vascularis. Confocal images revealed an intimate relationship between casted vessels and functional proteins in the stria vascularis. These observations indicate that a non-corroded casting method is useful for examining the three-dimensional vascular networks by confocal microscopy and can be combined with immunohistochemical studies to identify the structural characteristics of the associated vascular tissues.

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