For those following this thread, I asked a source in the field their opinion on the question of thermography. The jury is clearly still out. The American Society of Clinical Oncology just released (in May) a study on thermography based in Mexico.
If you'd like to read it for yourself, here's a link to the abstract:
Breast cancer is the second cause of death from cancer among Mexican women. However, most of them who are 50 and older, especially those in rural communities, have never had a mammogram. The study cites the figure at 7%. (Can you imagine the furor in the United States if only 7% of women had ever been able to have a mammogram? And Mexico is a large and populous country). So the study wanted to evaluate the use of thermography as an early detection device that could be used outside of hospitals.
Over two years (2006-08), women were offered a clinical examination followed by mammography, thermography and a biopsy if it was indicated. There were 911 women in the study. Their ages ranged from 15 to 83, with the median age at 44. Of those 911 women, 503 were over 40 and 137 were 35-39.
The results:
In the over-40 group, cancer was diagnosed in 14 women (3%).
In the 35-39 group, cancer was diagnosed in 2 women (1.4%)
Overall, cancer was diagnosed in 16 of the 640 women who were over 35 (2.5%)
And cancer was diagnosed in 1.8% of women by the use of breast thermography.
We may think "1.8%, that's not very much." But in a thousand women, that's 18 diagnoses. In 10,000 women, that's 180 diagnoses that might have slipped away otherwise, or not been diagnosed until much later. And in inflammatory breast cancer, early diagnoses can be everything. Just everything.
This is a topic I didn't know much about until I started paying attention and doing a little research on it. I'll keep my eyes open now and be interested to see where it goes.
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For those following this thread, I asked a source in the field their opinion on the question of thermography. The jury is clearly still out. The American Society of Clinical Oncology just released (in May) a study on thermography based in Mexico.
If you'd like to read it for yourself, here's a link to the abstract:
http://www.asco.org/ASCOv2/Meetings/Abstracts?&vmview=abst_detail_view&confID=65&abstractID=34312
Breast cancer is the second cause of death from cancer among Mexican women. However, most of them who are 50 and older, especially those in rural communities, have never had a mammogram. The study cites the figure at 7%. (Can you imagine the furor in the United States if only 7% of women had ever been able to have a mammogram? And Mexico is a large and populous country). So the study wanted to evaluate the use of thermography as an early detection device that could be used outside of hospitals.
Over two years (2006-08), women were offered a clinical examination followed by mammography, thermography and a biopsy if it was indicated. There were 911 women in the study. Their ages ranged from 15 to 83, with the median age at 44. Of those 911 women, 503 were over 40 and 137 were 35-39.
The results:
In the over-40 group, cancer was diagnosed in 14 women (3%).
In the 35-39 group, cancer was diagnosed in 2 women (1.4%)
Overall, cancer was diagnosed in 16 of the 640 women who were over 35 (2.5%)
And cancer was diagnosed in 1.8% of women by the use of breast thermography.
We may think "1.8%, that's not very much." But in a thousand women, that's 18 diagnoses. In 10,000 women, that's 180 diagnoses that might have slipped away otherwise, or not been diagnosed until much later. And in inflammatory breast cancer, early diagnoses can be everything. Just everything.
This is a topic I didn't know much about until I started paying attention and doing a little research on it. I'll keep my eyes open now and be interested to see where it goes.
Anyone out there with personal experience?
June 25, 2009 - 7:51amThis Comment
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