Breast Thermography - Safe, effective, pain-free breast cancer screening
Infrared breast thermography is based on the fact that blood vessel activity surrounding a developing cancer is almost always higher than in normal
breast tissue. With an ever-increasing demand for nutrients, cancerous tumor cells release chemicals that open existing blood vessels as well as
create new ones. Vascular alterations resulting from cancer frequently result
in temperature changes on the surface of the breast which can be
demonstrated with infrared thermography. Thermal abnormalities identified
with infrared imaging are among the earliest signs of a pre-cancerous or
cancerous lesion of the breast. The ability of infrared thermography to
identify these vascular abnormalities and the resulting temperature changes
are well-established in research trials [1,2,3,4,5,6].
Obtaining thermal images of the breasts provides valuable information. This
is especially true of women with large, dense, fibrocystic, or augmented
breasts, which are usually difficult to image with mammography.
Mammography is dependent upon the density and the size of a breast mass
and any additional dense breast tissue makes interpretation difficult. Because
thermography is not in any way impacted by density, cysts, or breast size (it
is looking at blood flow), it is an extremely useful diagnostic tool to evaluate
and manage these women.
For all women, a thermogram is like an infrared fingerprint of the breast. It
will not change over time unless there has been an alteration in blood flow. It
is for this reason that thermography is ideal not only for breast cancer
screening, but also for monitoring suspicious findings identified with other
tests such as ultrasound, mammography or with physical examination.
Thermography also has prognostic value. The more abnormal a thermogram
is, the more likely the cancer is to be aggressive and spread rapidly. In fact,
a persistently abnormal thermogram carries with it a risk of developing
breast cancer that is 22 times greater than that of the average woman [7].
This knowledge is invaluable because steps can be taken to screen a highrisk
candidate more often, leading to earlier diagnosis. Most experts agree
that early diagnosis and treatment improves survival. Extensive clinical trials
have shown that breast thermography improves long-term survival rates of
its recipients by as much as 61% [1]. In addition to assisting with early
diagnosis, an abnormal thermogram can allow a woman to adopt preventive
strategies that may inhibit cancer from developing or decrease the likelihood
that it will spread.
