What is disclosed is a system and method for classifying the hormone receptor status of malignant tumorous tissue identified in a thermographic image of a breast. One embodiment of the present method involves the following. First, receive thermographic image(s) of both breasts of a patient with a malignant tumorous region and analyzing the image(s) to define a boundary contour of the breast. Then, the breast regions are segment into regions of elevated temperature. A function of first probability mass function Q, ƒ(Q), is determined based on temperatures of pixels within a first segmented region. A function of the second probability mass function P, ƒ(P), is determined based on temperatures of pixels within a second region. A distance measure between the two functions ƒ(Q) and ƒ(P) is calculated and provided to a classifier trained to classify the malignant tissue as hormone receptor positive, and negative otherwise, based on the distance measure.