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Medical thermography which is also called Infrared or DII (Digital Infrared Imaging) is the process of
obtaining highly detailed and sensitive infrared images of the human body. The word thermology is the
diagnostic analysis of those images by a Board-Certified medical specialist using a scientific method of
scoring the images. Thermology is listed by the FDA as an accepted diagnostic procedure for breast disease
since 1982. Thermology is derived from more than forty (40) years of extensive clinical development and has
a sound basis in medical science. There have been more than 800 research papers given and over 300,000 women
imaged. Infrared has been used more in Canada, Europe and Asia as the first line of screening and if abnormal,
the women are then sent for structural studies. These countries have socialized medicine and they are more interested
in prevention and early detection since the State will need to pay for the health care in these countries. Modern Infrared
technology benefited and evolved rapidly following millions of dollars of military money being spent on the surface
to air missile program during the Gulf War under General Secord and more recently with “Smart Infrared Helmets” on medics in the Iraq War.
Breast cancer concerns have been mounting and self examinations, clinical examinations by your doctor and mamograms have been widely
promoted as means of saving lives from breast cancer. However, the mortality of breast cancer is essentially unchanged in the past 65
years because none of these techniques provide true early detection. Thermology screening has considerable advantages, such the ability
to indicate breast disease 3-8 years before mammography and being more effective for younger women with dense fibrocystic breasts. What
the Proactive Breast Wellness Program teaching module is addressing are ways for women to try to make changes that will alter in a positive
way the infrared scans at their next visit so the inflammation or cellular activity does not continue to get worse.
Thermology is a passive type of testing. This means thermography does NOT use any form of ionizing radiation (such as does X-ray) as it
evaluates the features of activity and operations of the body. The equipment we use which is a Flir Model A40 infrared thermograph camera
that makes tens-of-thousands detailed measurements of skin temperature and the camera is about 4 to 8 feet from your body and there is no
compression and it is 100% safe. This camera is accurate to within 0.06 degrees Celsius and it runs at video speed. There are no temperature
probes that some of the older technology used over 12 years ago to capture temperature data from the skin. Simply touching the skin with a
probe will cause the client to react and usually vaso-constrict or pull away by the act of being touched. This will of course alter the readings
hence not making the probe technology very accurate. The images produced from our camera are really electronic data of absolute temperature
measurements that can be viewed as an electronic image presenting a spectrum of colors that indicate increased or decreased levels of infrared
radiation (heat) being emitted from you own body’s surface. Cancers have an increased tissue metabolism resulting from rapid multiplication
of the cells which generate heat which the camera can capture.
Thermology evaluates tissue function and physiology and is distinctly different from tissue structure-based diagnostic methods, such as MRI,
mammograms, and ultrasounds. Thermology does not replace these other diagnostic methods but rather they add to thermology's diagnostic value
and complement it as part of a comprehensive program of breast evaluation. Breast thermology is particularly effective in instances where mammography
is compromised; such as in women before menopause, have used hormone replacement therapy (HRT), have glandular or dense breasts, have fibrocystic
disease, had prior biopsies, have implants or reconstructive/ reduction surgery, are pregnant, are nursing or have small or large breasts.
Breast thermology has a very high (conservatively 88% to 90%) sensitivity identifying the specific tissue changes associated with breast cancer.
However, thermology is also less specific in differentiating breast cancer from tissue inflammation, infection or hormone imbalances.
The presence of these conditions may cause false-positive findings, especially on initial studies of an individual. Over time and with
repeated studies, thermology can usually distinguish non-cancerous conditions from evolving breast cancer. A questionable/ borderline TH3
thermology feature will resolve in about 80% of the women with balancing their hormones, lifestyle and dietary changes. Some of these images
may then later demonstrate stability or evolve to show thermology features distinctive of breast cancer. There was a large study done on
58,000 women with breast complaints that was written up in “Cancer” in 1980, Vol. 56,45-51. Of that 58,000 group of women, 1,245 patients
had TH3 thermograms but had normal mammograms, ultrasounds, physical exam and biopsy. Thirty-eight percent of the women with normal breasts
and 44% of those with mastopathy developed biopsy proven breast cancer within five years!!! Since the modern infrared is now being able to
identify issues 3 to 6 years and possibly 8 years prior to mammogram detection, this makes Infrared Thermography the Best Risk Assessment
Tool we now have available ! The infrared images are seeing physiological activity where groups of cells are now clustering possibly prior
to lump formation at about 2mm or the thickness of a credit card. At a certain growth point, the abnormal cells will require more circulation
to the area to provide the growing mass of cells with more nutrition. The development of these new blood vessels (angiogenesis) of a solid
malignant tumor must occur when it has grown too large for simple diffusion from existing vessels to provide for the metabolic needs of the
cells of the tumor. The process of angiogenesis begins when a malignant tumor is about 150 micrometers (0.15mm) in diameter and must be
extensively developed by the time a tumor is 1-2 mm in diameter. Angiogenic blood vessels are unstable and do not have the ordered structure
of normal blood vessels. In fact, angiogenic vessels are of a primitive structure without any connection to the autonomic nervous system
and no vascular smooth muscle content. Infrared is able to show these larger blood vessels that are leading to an area and the patterns are
frequently chaotic in nature. This is a good indicator to send a woman in for further structural studies. False-negative errors are rare
and usually a consequence of a latent (resting, non-active) stage in the development of breast cancer. Since breast cancers take about
10-12 years to grow to a stage that can be felt, the hope is that these women will have the issue identified earlier so they can come in
for treatment earlier and hence increasing their survival rate. Imaging centers that offer mammography with infrared and scanning ultrasound,
the combined sensitivity has approached a 98% catch rate. Diagnosing breast cancer early is of critical importance to surviving the
disease. The survival of stage one disease in approximately ninety-one percent while survival of stage three drops to approximately
forty percent (40%). Since Infrared thermography is the best and earliest risk detection tool available to modern medicine, we are
hoping that this technology will be in more imaging centers in the United States soon.
To learn more about thermography, please visit our interpreter’s site by Dr.
William Amalu for a more in depth look at this area. Click Here.
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