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June 10, 2004 |
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Breast Health Thermography Versus Mammography I am deeply concerned about the use of mammography, due to its many flaws, including painful compression of the breasts, the high rate of false positives and negative test results, and even the increased risk of developing the very cancer you are trying to avoid. Fortunately, thermography is nothing like mammography. Thermography is a heat-imaging screening technique that does not use radiation or breast compression to detect tumors. Instead, it uses a high-resolution camera that can read the temperature of your body and convert it into an infrared heat image that can be seen on a computer. In this way, a physician can position a woman at the ideal angle for her particular breast contour to be examined. The camera then records these images and sends them to a computer where they are stored until a physician can perform a detailed exam to detect the exact differences in temperature that indicate whether or not cancer may be present. (Healthy breast tissue usually registers as blue, green, or yellow, while cancerous tissue will present as red or orange.) Is It Effective? The infrared map of each woman’s breast is as unique as her fingerprint. Any change in this map over the course of months and years can signal an early indication of possible tumors or other abnormalities. In fact, studies have shown that an abnormal infrared image is the single most important indicator of high risk for developing breast cancer. Similarly, it has been found that a woman can increase her survival rate from breast cancer by 61 percent simply by including thermography as a part of her regular breast health checkups.
Who Can Perform Thermography? Any well-trained and experienced personnel medical doctors, osteopaths, naturopaths, and chiropractors can perform thermography if they have the correct equipment. Ideally, the physician should be a board-certified clinical thermographer from a reputable organization. Currently, the only recognized thermography organizations are the American Academy of Thermology, the American Academy of Medical Infrared Imaging, the International Academy of Clinical Thermology, and the International Thermographic Society. How to Get Started Unfortunately, thermography is still not as widely used and available as mammography. But fortunately, it is becoming more prevalent. The first thing I would recommend is that you work with a complementary physician, osteopath, chiropractor, or naturopathic doctor, all of whom are more likely to know of a facility in your area that offers this screening technique. If you don’t have one already, you can contact their membership organizations (American College for the Advancement of Medicine at 1-800-532-3688 and www.acam.org; the American Osteopathic Association at 1-800-621-1773 or www.aoa-net.org; the American Chiropractic Association at 1-800-986-4636 or www.amerchiro.org; and the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians at 1-877-969-2267 and www.naturopathic.org) to find one in your area. If your care provider is unaware of a facility in your area, you can contact the International Academy of Clinical Thermography online at www.iact-org.org, or if you do not have Internet access, you can contact the organization at 1-650-361-8908. While this group does not have a comprehensive list of facilities, they are a great starting point. Even if you do not see a facility located in your area, I suggest calling someone that is on the list. In most cases, they will be only too happy to let you know if they know of a physician or clinic offering thermography near you. Finally, if that doesn’t work, you may need to consider traveling to the facility closest to you. I’m sure you’ll agree with me that peace of mind and good health are well worth a couple of hours on the road. Once you locate a physician and facility, be sure to ask who will be reading your exam and what qualifications they have. You’ll also want to ensure that this doctor regularly tests or at least participates in the quality control of the facility and equipment.
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