The role of malignant tissue on the thermal distribution of cancerous breast

•Analytical and numerical tools are used to investigate the thermal distribution of cancerous breasts.•The cross-section of the cancerous breast is identified by a homogeneous glandular tissue that surrounds the heterogeneous tumor tissue, which is assumed to be a two-phase periodic composite.•Asymptotic periodic homogenization method is exploited to study effective properties in the heterogeneous region.•Semi-analytical results show that the tumor volume fraction in the heterogeneous zone influences the breast surface temperature, in agreement with the experimental literature.•The tissue scale temperature profile qualitatively agrees with experimental observations in region where cancerous heterogeneities are present. The present work focuses on the integration of analytical and numerical strategies to investigate the thermal distribution of cancerous breasts. Coupled stationary bioheat transfer equations are considered for the glandular and heterogeneous tumor regions, which are characterized by different thermophysical properties. The cross-section of the cancerous breast is identified by a homogeneous glandular tissue that surrounds the heterogeneous tumor tissue, which is assumed to be a two-phase periodic composite with non-overlapping circular inclusions and a square lattice distribution, wherein the constituents exhibit isotropic thermal conductivity behavior. Asymptotic periodic homogenization method is used to find the effective properties in the heterogeneous region. The tissue effective thermal conductivities are computed analytically and then used in the homogenized model, which is solved numerically. Results are compared with appropriate experimental data reported in the literature. In particular, the tissue scale temperature profile agrees with experimental observations. Moreover, as a novelty result we find that the tumor volume fraction in the heterogeneous zone influences the breast surface temperature.