Breast Thermography is the most well-known thermography application.
It is the only test that that offers risk assessment of potential to develop breast cancer
The unusual angiogenic vascular and warming patterns associated with cancer are associated with higher risk and are a potential biomarker of breast disease.
These unusual patterns may be detected years before they develop into breast cancer.
It has a unique capacity to monitor the temperature variations and blood vessel alterations produced by the earliest changes in tissue physiology.
- FDA approved since 1982
- Safe: no radiation
- Comfortable: Non-invasive, non-contact and no compression
Thermography is a visual early warning system.
How does thermography relate to mammography?
Thermography is a safe complement to mammography.
Thermography is a non-invasive way to examine your physiology by measuring the heat radiated by your body. Mammograms emit radiation that penetrates through your tissues; thermography measures heat radiated by your body. Excess heat emanating from your body indicates potential health issues; just like taking your oral temperature at your physician’s office can indicate a fever.
Mammograms examine the anatomical structure of the body; thermography assesses physiology, what is happening with blood vessels and circulation beneath the surface. Cancer and other disease conditions produce more heat from changes in blood flow and circulation that can be detected by thermography long before they form into a mass or tumor that can be detected by mammography or ultrasound.
Thermography is unique as a breast cancer risk assessment tool.
Mammography is about looking for the potential of a tumor already present by picking up on calcium deposits or density changes that suggest a mass. Thermography is about determining the risk that cancer may be already present or could develop in the future.
Thermography has applications in cancer prevention which mammograms cannot.
Thermography can detect and monitor problematic precancerous states. It can detect them in time for a preventative therapeutic approach to be taken and thermography can monitor the effectiveness of such treatments.
To use the example of taking your car to a mechanic; mammography is like looking under the hood. But when everything looks good and the car still won’t start, the mechanic has to turn the car on, take it for a drive and measure the performance aspects of the vehicle’s function. This is what thermography does: it examines the body in performance mode and visualizes heat coming off the body to look for unusual cellular or tissue functioning that could indicate a problem.
Breast thermography’s ability to detect a pre-cancerous state of the breast, or signs of cancer at an extremely early stage, lies in its unique capability of monitoring the temperature variations and blood vessel alterations produced by the earliest changes in tissue physiology
However, thermography does not have the ability to pinpoint the location of a tumor. Consequently, breast thermography’s role is in addition to mammography and physical examination, not in lieu of.
Breast thermography does not replace mammography and mammography does not replace breast thermography; the tests complement each other.