Sidebar: Breast Cancer Statistics

HISTORY OF THERMOGRAPHY
Thermal imaging was first used for observing battlefield troop movements at night. When the technology was declassified in the mid-1950s, Raymond Lawson, a surgeon and tumor metabolism researcher, thought perhaps this technology could be used to detect the increase in heat that cancerous breast tumors produce. In 1959, the first medical thermogram to investigate breast cancer was taken; in 1982, thermography was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an adjunctive screening procedure, meant to supplement mammography and other traditional tests for the disease.

WHAT IS THERMOGRAPHY?
Thermography is an imaging technique that uses specialized infrared cameras to take a picture of the breast or other soft tissues. Thermography’s infrared camera can detect temperature patterns of heat emission from the skin surface to a depth of six millimeters. Thermography is based upon physiological responses, which occur much earlier than anatomical mass. It is a non-contact, non-invasive procedure; there are no risks or side effects.
Thermal patterns are displayed on the skin and detected by the infrared sensor of the camera. Interpreted as temperature data, the information is transmitted to the computer where all images are stored as pictures, where red means hot, and blue means cold.

WHY THERMOGRAPHY?
Thermography can detect the increased metabolic heat associated with increased vascularity of most suspicious growths, and can sense the thermal signal—often years in advance of the mass detected on x-ray. By detecting thermal asymmetry thermography offers the physician an added dimension to the diagnostic picture, detecting neurological and vascular information not available on x-ray. Thermography detects metabolic changes within the breast tissue itself that suggest the beginnings of a possible tumor. When a cancer is forming, it develops its own blood supply in order to feed its accelerated growth, a process known as malignant angiogenesis. And cells can start this process well in advance of when they turn malignant. When they do, the increased blood supply causes abnormal heat activity in the breast, which a specialized infrared camera can pick up. Studies suggest that thermography can detect this activity ten years before any other exam. Thermogram can also indicate a tumor’s aggressiveness, which has more to do with its cellular biology than with its size. Thus, a very small tumor may have the ability to invade the body and lead to death, while a larger one may not. In conclusion, thermogram suggests whether the cancer is highly active and may be spreading.

THERMOGRAPHY AND BREAST HEALTH
“Some experts think a thermogram can detect cancer much sooner than a mammogram can.” William Amalu, D.C. “This year, over 190,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States. Shocking as this number of cancer that won’t be found until it’s too late; each year more than 40,000 women die of the disease. The sooner you catch a malignancy, the sooner you can get on a treatment path toward a cure.” (Alternative Medicine, April 2003). Thermograms can detect suspicious breast changes at the cellular level, thus providing an early warning of possible cancer. Breast thermography has the added ability to observe the activity of particular cancer-causing hormones in the breasts. Research suggests that cumulative exposure of the breasts to estrogen is a major risk factor for breast cancer. When hormone activity in the breast is dominated by estrogen, a specific type of infrared image is produced. Thermal imaging is an adjunctive exam that can provide a more comprehensive picture to the ongoing monitoring of breast health.

Online resources:
www.breastthermography.org
www.preventcancer.com
www.credence.org

BREAST CANCER STATISTICS
- At present there are over 1,200 thermography devices in the United States for providing this detailed, clinically valuable information.
- Each year, 182,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer and 43,300 die. One woman in eight either has or will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. In addition, 1,600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 400 will die this year.
- The National Cancer Institute and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommend that women in their forties and older have mammograms every one to two years. A complete early detection plan also includes monthly breast self-exams and clinical breast examinations by a trained medical professional.
- Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among U.S. women ages 40-55, and is second only to lung cancer in cancer deaths.

Irina M. Bukshteyn is a graduate from the First National University of Naturopathy and is the founder of the Health and Longevity Center in Atlanta, Georgia, which provides thermography with interpretation by MDs certified in the process. Contact them at www.healthandlongevity.org or 770-908-0468.

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