For those who don't know, breast thermography is a tool that scans the tissue in the breast area and makes an image of it based on the temperature differences in the area. Think of it almost as one of those weather maps with the color coding -- areas of the breast that are normal tend to be one color, and areas of the breast with increased pre-cancerous or cancerous activity tend to be hotter and therefore another color. The "photo" of the breast shows all these areas and can be "read" by an experienced diagnostician who knows exactly what to look for.
Here's a very thorough page about thermography. It is written/produced by a doctor who runs a thermography clinic, so it's clearly on the side of this technology. It has pages on the procedure itself and on what it's like, including scans of normal breasts and of those with suspicious areas:
http://www.breastthermography.com/
Here's what the site says about availability of the testing:
"What other centers perform Digital Infrared Imaging?
"Because of the special training, technical expertise, and unique clinical environmental needs necessary to perform DII, many centers do not have this technology as of yet. Currently, independent digital infrared imaging centers and highly specialized independent breast clinics are the most common place to find this technology."
On the critical side, there are those who believe that the technology is not yet ready for use in medical practice. Much of the negatives I found had to do with the use of it in chiropractic settings, however. At least one insurance company felt that while thermography may detect temperature differences, since other tests are still required to determine what's going on with the temperature difference, thermography itself added little to their body of knowledge.
Here's a summary of some of that criticism:
http://www.chirobase.org/06DD/thermography.html
Here's another page talking about the value of thermography. In general, all the pages I found about thermography suggest that it's simply another good tool in the toolbox for detecting breast cancers -- that self-exams, mammograms and ultrasounds are also critical tools. I imagine that if every woman would do self-exams and could have a mammogram, an ultrasound and thermography on a regular basis, we might be finding more breast cancers in their early stages (which is especially critical in IBC). But the costs of that may be prohibitive right now, both to the medical world and to insurance companies.
Does the unsure diagnosis that your daughter is facing have to do with breast cancer? Have you raised the possibility with her doctors of doing thermography? What sort of reaction did you get?
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Hi, Anon. Thank you very much for your question!
For those who don't know, breast thermography is a tool that scans the tissue in the breast area and makes an image of it based on the temperature differences in the area. Think of it almost as one of those weather maps with the color coding -- areas of the breast that are normal tend to be one color, and areas of the breast with increased pre-cancerous or cancerous activity tend to be hotter and therefore another color. The "photo" of the breast shows all these areas and can be "read" by an experienced diagnostician who knows exactly what to look for.
Here's a very thorough page about thermography. It is written/produced by a doctor who runs a thermography clinic, so it's clearly on the side of this technology. It has pages on the procedure itself and on what it's like, including scans of normal breasts and of those with suspicious areas:
http://www.breastthermography.com/
Here's what the site says about availability of the testing:
"What other centers perform Digital Infrared Imaging?
"Because of the special training, technical expertise, and unique clinical environmental needs necessary to perform DII, many centers do not have this technology as of yet. Currently, independent digital infrared imaging centers and highly specialized independent breast clinics are the most common place to find this technology."
On the critical side, there are those who believe that the technology is not yet ready for use in medical practice. Much of the negatives I found had to do with the use of it in chiropractic settings, however. At least one insurance company felt that while thermography may detect temperature differences, since other tests are still required to determine what's going on with the temperature difference, thermography itself added little to their body of knowledge.
Here's a summary of some of that criticism:
http://www.chirobase.org/06DD/thermography.html
Here's another page talking about the value of thermography. In general, all the pages I found about thermography suggest that it's simply another good tool in the toolbox for detecting breast cancers -- that self-exams, mammograms and ultrasounds are also critical tools. I imagine that if every woman would do self-exams and could have a mammogram, an ultrasound and thermography on a regular basis, we might be finding more breast cancers in their early stages (which is especially critical in IBC). But the costs of that may be prohibitive right now, both to the medical world and to insurance companies.
Does the unsure diagnosis that your daughter is facing have to do with breast cancer? Have you raised the possibility with her doctors of doing thermography? What sort of reaction did you get?
June 24, 2009 - 8:22amThis Comment
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