Breast Thermography Introduced
The procedure used with a mammography or sometimes used as an alternative to a mammography is the breast thermography that is actually a digital infrared imaging of the breast using infrared cameras and computers. The method used is taking infrared cameras and computer technology to take high resolution images of parts of the breast that have a higher level of blood circulation caused by the activity of cancerous cells due to the increased need for more nutrients since cancerous cells destroy healthy tissue and require more and more nutrients to spread. The use of breast thermography is the use of sensitive cameras and computers that detect higher than normal temperatures in the breast and increased blood circulation. These are the symptoms that the breast thermography is looking for to assess early signs of breast cancer.
The use of breast thermography with mammography has been conducted for the past decade. Early detection of cancer in the breast is the best way to prevent the spread of the cancerous tissue through quick treatments currently available. The difference between detecting breast cancer with the conventional mammography, ultrasound or MRI and with the breast thermography is that the breast thermography method picks up on areas in the breast that are sending out heat signals capable of being picked up by the infrared cameras and computer. The detection of increased blood circulation activity in a certain area of the breast might mean finding a tumor that could possibly escape detection by physical examinations or even a mammography. A mammography misses about 20% of cancers that the breast thermography will discover.
An abnormal thermogram is a warning signal to women who are developing a cancerous tumor in the breast. When such a thermogram is discovered, a woman will be able to plan her treatment along with her doctor as the possibility of developing breast cancer is almost always positive. Follow through monitoring of the breasts is always the procedure after an abnormal thermogram. The tumor detected is usually small enough to give the woman and her doctors time to plan their treatments. The statistics given are that 95% of women who have had abnormal thermograms were successfully treated. Currently women are given mammography and breast thermography. The procedure is usually to give the breast thermography and mammography to reduce the risk of missing small cancerous tumors. An abnormal thermography indicates that the increased blood circulation and heat of a found tumor is probably cancerous whereas a mammography can detect both non cancerous as well as cancerous tumors.