Over 192,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in the US and 1.2 million worldwide annually.  As shocking as these numbers are, even worse is the number of cancers that won’t be detected until it’s too late. The consensus among experts is that early detection holds the key to survival.  Although this is true, detection is not occurring early enough in many cases.









Even though women are advised to begin having mammograms at age 40, what they don’t know is that by the time most cancers are detected they have been growing for as long as 10 years, and that 20% of all cancers can’t be seen on a mammogram.
If a significant change in breast cancer mortality is to be realized, we may have to rethink what screening tests truly are, and ask the question, “Are we currently providing “screening” or “detection”?  A change from sole dependence upon procedures that only provide detection of existing cancers to technologies that reflect the early cancerous process itself could provide women with better screening.
A method of very early detection, a procedure that would act as an early warning system, would give women more of a fighting chance in this battle.  Breast thermography is a unique technology women have access to that may give them this early warning.
Breast thermography is an imaging technology that uses advanced computerized infrared camera systems to detect heat patterns in the breast.  It is approved by the FDA for this purpose. The benefit is that heat changes may indicate the beginning of a physiological state that could lead to cancer.
When a cancer is forming it develops its own blood supply in order to feed its accelerated growth (a process known as malignant angiogenesis). Even more importantly, pre-cancerous tissues can start this process well in advance of the cells becoming malignant.  This increased blood supply causes an abnormal heat pattern in the breast.
Thermography can detect this abnormal heat pattern by scanning the breasts with a specialized infrared camera. These abnormal heat patterns could be the signs of a forming cancer, in it’s earliest stages.  At this time it is not possible to verify that the condition, which is causing the heat changes, is indeed a cancer forming.  A mammogram, MRI or other x-ray won’t show it, most of the time, so we have to rely on the “possibility” that the heat change could be the beginnings of cancer and therefore the condition needs to be monitored closely.
Through an understanding of the thermography technology, patients and physicians can use this information to improve breast care and breast cancer prevention.
Be proactive in your breast health. Early detection and prevention saves lives.