In this issue:

Empire Digital Imaging

Empire Digital Imaging  

Is one of the many ACCT certified clinics around the world.

They are dedicated to educating the public about safe, radiation free and painless screening methods.

If you would like to know more please sign up for their newsletter here

Thermography

Thermography

A Painless Adjunct to Mammograms

By Hugh O. Smith PhD

Millions of women this year will endure the pain and radiation of a mammogram not realizing that they have a safe, painless, radiation free, FDA approved alternative.

Thermography or as it is also called, Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) is a technology so advanced that it is also used to detect many other physiological issues such as inflammatory breast disease which a mammogram cannot.  

Thermography is a 30 year old proven technology that uses an individual’s unique heat signature to detect possible pathologies such as breast cancer. Cancer cells double in size every 90 days. Thermography can detect possible cancer at 256 cells or 2 years. A mammogram requires over 4 billion cells or 8 years to detect cancer. That gives a woman a six year head start on early detection and treatment. The key, as any doctor will advise, is early detection and intervention. 

Researchers from the Ville Marie Breast Center examined infrared imaging in 100 women with non invasive stage I and II breast cancer. In this study, the 84% sensitivity 

rate of mammography alone was increased to 95% when infrared imaging was added, John R. Keyserlingk, MD, a surgical oncologist at Ville Marie, said in his presentation of the findings at the recent American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting.¹ 

Mammography and ultrasound depend primarily on structural distinction and anatomical variation of the tumor from the surrounding breast tissue, Dr Keyserlingk said, “Infrared imaging detects minute temperature variations related to vascular flow and can demonstrate abnormal vascular patterns associated with the initiation and progression of tumors.”   

 “The new generation of diagnostic infrared technology, Dr. Keyserlingk said, “owes much to a decade of military research and development. "In July 1995, we installed a 

fully integrated high-resolution infrared station," he told ONCOLOGY NEWS INTERNATIONAL. The software allows high - precision pixel temperature measurements.” 

The new generation of equipment measures a difference in body temperature of 1/100th of a degree. Thermography relies on the fact that every person’s heat signature is unique and that any variation in the signature may signal a pathology. 

Cancer produces its own blood vessels in a process called angiogenesis. These are the “feeder” systems for cancer that rely on sugar to survive. Thermography can detect these anomalies sometimes as far in advance as 6 years before a mammogram. This gives the patient a huge jump on the disease. Additionally, thermography can detect inflammatory breast disease (IBD) when mammography cannot.  

In their study, Dr. Keyserlingk and his colleagues, Paul Ahlgren, MD, a medical oncologist, and Edward Yu, MD, a radiation oncologist, reviewed 100 successive patients  

referred to the Ville Marie Breast Center between August 1995 and December 1996 who were subsequently found to have histologically proven noninvasive ductal carcinoma in situ (four patients) or stage I or II invasive breast cancer (96 patients).   

All patients had undergone preoperative clinical examination, mammography, and infrared imaging. 

Clinical examination alone was positive in 61% of the study patients. Mammography was highly suspicious in 65% of patients, with an additional 19% having contributory but nonspecific (intermediate) mammography findings. Infrared imaging was considered abnormal in 83% of patients. 

Of the 39 patients with negative clinical examinations, 31 had at least one major abnormal infrared sign, and infrared was the major indication of a potential abnormality in 15 of these patients who also had a negative or intermediate mammogram. 

By performing thermography years before conventional mammography, a selected patient population at risk can be monitored more carefully, and thereby accurately utilize mammography or ultrasound as soon as is possible to detect the actual lesion - (once it has grown large enough and dense enough to be seen on mammographic film), can increase the patients treatment options and ultimately improve the outcome. 

It is in this role that thermography provides its most practical benefit to the general public and to the medical profession. It is certainly an adjunct to the appropriate usage of mammography and not a competitor. In fact, thermography has the ability to identify patients at the highest risk and actually increase the effective usage of mammographic imaging procedures. 

Thermography, with its non-radiation, non-contact and low-cost basis has been clearly demonstrated to be a valuable and safe early risk marker of breast pathology, and an excellent case management tool for the ongoing monitoring and treatment of breast disease when used under carefully controlled clinical protocols.

¹ American Society of Clinical Oncology 20: 2001 (abstract 1812

Examples

The following 4 images are an example of a thermogram taken over a one year period and we can see the developing pathology. Cancer produces its own vascular system, a process called angiogenesis, the thermogram will pick this up and give a visual of the process.  

This patient was age 37 when her first baseline thermogram showed a slight hyperthermic asymmetry in the upper right breast. The follow-up study showed the pattern had become more well defined and although clinical correlation did not find anything remarkable it

was decided to repeat the exam again in a further 3 months, when again significant changes were seen. Mammography was performed at this stage with the thermographic guidance of the locally suspicious area at 1 O’clock to the right nipple.  

The next image below is from a 37 year old patient presented for routine thermographic breast screening. She was not in a high risk category and had no family history.

No breast exams had been performed previously.

The vascular asymmetry in the upper left breast and the local hypothermia at 11 O’clock was particularly suspicious and subsequent clinical investigation indicated a palpable mass at the position indicated. A biopsy was performed and a DCIS of 2 cm was diagnosed.

All Thermographic images are courtesy of MediTherm

Does it hurt?

Women over forty are usually told to have an annual mammogram and there are many reasons. The first is that women over forty are considered at higher risk for breast cancer. Second, breast tissue is more dense in women under forty and therefore cancer is more difficult to detect. Furthermore, this density of tissue means more radiation is absorbed and can actually be harmful.

Another advantage to thermography is its broad based ability to detect other pathologies that mammography cannot. These include inflammatory breast disease, coronary artery disease, deep vein thrombosis, structural problems, carpal tunnel syndrome and a host of other problems.

ACCT Certified Clinics

The American College of Clinical Thermology Inc (ACCT) is the fastest growing and pre-eminent professional organization dedicated to the advancement of thermology and thermography through education, research,
and professional development.

ACCT Certified thermography technicians make up part of a World Wide Network  of thermography technicians.

Your reports are kept in a confidential central data base accesible from any where in the world to you and your preferred Meditherm Certified Technician  

Disclaimer

Nothing in this newsletter should be construed as medical advice and, as always, you should consult with a physician concerning your health.
 
If you are buying into the "let's treat every symptom now" routine, you are probably going to be disappointed. I have seen people leave a "natural care" practitioner's office with hundreds of dollars of supplements only to have nothing happen except a somewhat lighter bank account. As always, buyer beware and remember that natural healing is a process that can take some time.
 
There are many factors that lead up to a chronic condition and, without seeing a client, it is often difficult to make hard and fast rules and solutions. So please understand that we will try to give you the answer with the available information you supply.
 
Please address your queries to hugh@biocytonics.com or visit our continually updated website at biocytonics.com.
 
Thank you
Dr. Hugh