$199.00 BREAST THERMOGRAPHY SPECIAL
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Thermography infrared imaging is a noninvasive, safe technology that records the amount of heat emanating from the breasts or other tissues, thus detecting inflammation long before the appearance of a tumor. The technology isn’t new. It dates back to World War II when US planes used it to identify active enemy missile silos. Its first medical application was in 1950, more than a decade before the introduction of mammography. IT
BECAME FDA APPROVED IN 1982 FOR BREAST CANCER SCREENING.
Breast thermography is a diagnostic procedure that images the breast to aid in early detection of breast cancer. The photo on the right shows breast cancer in one of the breasts.
The procedure is based on the principle that chemical and blood vessel activity in both precancerous tissue and the area surrounding a developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in a normal breast.
Since precancerous and cancerous masses are highly metabolic tissue, they need an abundant supply of nutrients to maintain their growth. In order to do this, they increase their circulation and – to have chemicals to grow new blood vessels. The process results
in an increase of regional surface of the breast.
I use a state-of-the-art breast thermography using ultrasensitive infrared camera and its – computer to detect, analyze, and produce high-resolution diagnostic images.
This procedure is both comfortable and uses no radiation or compression. By careful examining changes in the temperature in breast vessels, signs of possible cancerous or precancerous growth may be detected up to ten years prior to being discovered using any other procedure.
According to a recent study in the American Journal of Surgery in October 2008, thermography had a 97% sensitivity in detecting breast cancer. This is obviously higher than any other modality. I have seen in my practice an extremely high sensitivity, having screened patients and read thermography for the last six years.
In another study of 2003, women who had suspicious mammograms followed by thermography showed that the thermograms were 97% correct in detecting breast cancer.
Since thermal imaging detects changes at the cellular level eight to ten years before any other test, it makes it unique in that it affords us an opportunity to view changes before the actual formation of a tumor.
Studies have shown that by the time a tumor has grown to suspicious size to be detectable by physical examination or mammography it has in fact been growing for about seven years, achieving more than 25 doublings of the malignant cell colony. At eight years, there are almost four billion cells present.
Thermography is unaffected by breast density, implants, or scars from surgery. It allows for the avoidance of potentially harmful radiation, which is a known carcinogen.
Radiation from routine mammographies pose significant – of risk of promoting breast cancer. In fact, the mammogram results in a thousandfold greater radiation exposure than a chest x-ray. Additionally, each rad of exposure increases breast cancer risk by 1% annually, an extremely worrisome statistic for premenopausal women, whose breasts are more sensitive to radiation.
Premenopausal women who get annual mammograms for ten years are exposed to a total of ten rads for each breast. Over a thirty-year timeframe, from ages 40 to 70, for example, that amounts to a cumulative dose of thirty rads of radiation per breast. By comparison, Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors have over 32 rads of radiation.
Studies have shown that an abnormal infrared imaging is also the singlemost important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer. It is eight times more significant than the first order family of disease. A persistently abnormal thermography carries with it a 22% higher risk of future breast cancer. When added to a woman’s regular breast health checkup, a 61% increased survival has been realized. When used as a part of a multimodal approach, that is, clinical exam, mammography, and thermography, 95% of early stage cancers will be detected.
Please keep in mind that a positive breast scan may indicate the presence of many different breast abnormalities such as mastitis, benign tumors, fibrocystic breast disease, cancer, and others.
Just as unique as a fingerprint, each patient has a particular infrared map of their breasts. Any modification of the infrared map is followed up over time. In patients without cancer, examination results are used to indicate the level of future cancer risks.
Breast thermography CAN detect precancerous state of the breast or signs of cancer in extremely early stage.
It’s unique capability of monitoring the temperature variations and blood vessel alterations produced by the earliest changes in tissue physiology function. However, thermography does not have the ability to pinpoint the location of the tumor. Consequently, breast thermography’s role is in addition to mammography, ultrasound, or MRIis necessary Breast thermography does not replace mammography or MRI and mammography does not replace breast thermography.
The tests complement each other. Since it has been demonstrated that one in eight women will get breast cancer, we must use every means possible to detect cancers where there is the greatest chance for survival.
The addition of breast thermography to the front line of early breast cancer detection brings a great deal of good news for women.
Breast cancer is a noncontact test. Conversely, mammography involves placing the breast between two plates and subjecting the breast to painful compression. The recommended force to be used for the compression of breast tissue in mammography is about 300 – , the equivalent of placing a 50-pound weight on a breast. Several studies have shown that there would be increased cancer metastasis spread using this method. Compare this to breast thermography, which has been researched for more than forty years, with a data base in more than a quarter of a million women.
There are more than 800 – thermographic studies. This research has concluded that a persistently abnormal thermogram is consistent with a 22-fold increase in the risk of developing breast cancer.
In my opinion, thermography is the best screening method currently available.
Although it is not a diagnostic procedure, one of its great strengths is that it allows a woman and her health care practitioner to be proactive about breast health.
Because thermography shows subtle changes that occur long before the formation of a tumor, a woman whose skin indicates inflammation can take several steps to decrease the inflammation and abnormalities before returning for a follow-up thermogram to determine if she has been successful.
Only when I feel the scan is highly abnormal and suspect cancer do I need to follow up with a mammogram to confirm my diagnosis. Further, a woman diagnosed with DCIS can use thermography to help decide if her treatment should be aggressive or conservative.
Thermograms are also better than mammograms for telling the differences between harmless fibrocystic masses and more suspicious lumps.
In summary, if you are interested in breast cancer prevention and early evaluation, in my opinion thermography is the best screening tool. Please be aware that it is FDA cleared as an adjuvant screening procedure for breast cancer and this was done in 1982. As mentioned above, a 2008 study published in the American Journal of Surgery performed at the New York – Hospital at Cornell showed a 97% sensitivity in discriminating cancers compared to biopsy. A very important area of consideration is the neglect of categoried women under the age of forty.
There are 20,000 cases of breast cancer in this age group each year alone and cancers in the younger age are usually more aggressive and less likely to respond to treatment. In the United States, currently now we do not do screening mammograms before the age of fifty. Therefore, thermography is the perfect screening test for women ages 40 to 50 and after 50 they should be done along with anatomical imaging studies.
The studies on very large groups of patients, in eighty peer-reviewed breast thermography studies, were followed as long as twelve years. Among other conclusions from these studies had showed that thermography when added to a woman’s regular breast checkups shows a 61% increased survival rate when used along with mammography and 95% of all early stage cancers will be detected.
I HAVE PERFORMED AND READ THERMOGRAPHYS SINCE 2007.
I have obviously detected several breast cancers, fibrocystic breasts, metaplastic cysts, and ruptured breast implants not detectible by mammography. I followed up most of the abnormal studies with a MRI. I have also seen evidence of metastatic disease to the lung on several of my studies.
Thermography also evaluates all other parts of the body and is an excellent modality for imaging for pain evaluation, especially in the back and other joints of the body. Also, imaging can pick up inflammation anywhere, especially of your teeth, which is of great importance to your health. A few years ago,
I had a patient come in who ended up with a deep vein thrombosis, a blood clot, in his leg that was picked up in the office using my thermography. He was immediately transported to the hospital and had suffered a pulmonary embolism, or blood clot, to his lung.
If you would like to have your breasts screened for early detection and prevention of cancer, or you have a pain issue or an infection issue and would like more information on thermography or infrared screening, please call my office for an appointment. Prevention is the key to longevity. Ask about my breast cancer prevention program. We can also check your estrogen metabolites in your urine to see if you are making the carcinogenic 4 oh series estrogen. this can cause breast and uterine cancer so you can prevent disease.
DEAN R. SILVER, M.D.