WHAT IS BREAST THERMOGRAPHY?
Breast thermography is simple and painless test of physiology, or the function of the body.. It is a valuable procedure for alerting your doctor to changes that can indicate early stage breast disease.
The benefit of breast thermography is that it offers the opportunity of earlier detection of breast disease than has been possible through breast self examination, doctor examination or mammography alone.
Thermography can detect the subtle physiologic changes that accompany breast pathology, whether it is cancer, fibrocystic disease, an infection or a vascular disease. This can help you and your health care practitioner develop a careful program to further diagnose and /or MONITOR you during and after any treatment.
Normal
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Good thermal symmetry is seen in this picture with no suspicious vascular patterns or significant thermal findings.
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Fibrocystic Changes |
The very significant vascular activity in the left breast justified clinical correlation and close monitoring which returned an opinion of fibrocystic changes taking place. These changes can be monitored thermographically at regular intervals until a stable baseline is established and is reliable enough for annual comparison. |
Early Stage Malignant Tumor
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This is the specific area of a small DCIS. We can see the vascular feed and the discreet area of hypothermia (coldness) that is displacing the surrounding hyperthermia (heat). |
Thermography is a painless, non invasive, state of the art clinical test without any exposure to radiation and is used as part of an early detection program which gives women of all ages the opportunity to increase their chances of detecting breast disease at an early stage. It is particularly useful for women under 50 where mammography is less effective due the density of the breasts.
Thermography's role in breast cancer and other breast disorders is to help in early detection and monitoring of abnormal physiology and the establishment of risk factors for the development or existence of cancer. When used with other procedures the best possible evaluation of breast health is made.
This test is designed to improve chances for detecting fast-growing, active tumors in the intervals between mammographic screenings or when mammography is not indicated by screening guidelines for women under 50 years of age. Thermography closes the clinical gap between the beginning of the disease process and the diagnosis of a pathology.
All patient's thermograms (breast images) are kept on record and form a baseline for all future routine evaluations.
This patient's thermograms have remained stable for two years. These patterns are like a " thermal fingerprint" which will only change if pathology develops.
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