What is Thermal Imaging
I’m sure you’ve seen thermal image cameras in spy and thriller films – our hero looks through his infra-red goggles and sees the bad guys, the heat from their bodies showing up in blues and greens and reds against the night. In particular, it is an extremely accurate early detection tool for breast cancers and other cancers. In direct contrast to mammograms, thermal imaging is non-invasive, non-contact, and uses no radiation at all. In normal conditions, the human body is able to keep its internal temperature constant, no matter what the external conditions. The heat produced is primarily dispersed to the environment through the skin. The skin, like any body with a temperature over absolute zero, radiates electromagnetic energy in the surrounding environment at an intensity which is highest in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. An infrared scanning device is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualised in colour on a monitor. Mammogram testing compresses sensitive breast tissue causing pain and possible tissue damage. Thermography is a physiologic test which demonstrates thermal patterns in skin temperature that may be normal or may indicate pain, injury, disease or other abnormality. If abnormal heat patterns are identified relating to a specific region of interest or function, clinical correlation and further investigation may be necessary to assist your health care provider in diagnosis and treatment. Thermographic exams can be performed on anyone and in any condition, including pregnant women, children of any age, or even if you have a pacemaker. There is no radiation or electrical interference. Thermal Imaging can also be helpful in defining other problems such as acute injuries, chronic pain, certain types of heart and circulatory problems, and nerve problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome, RSD, peripheral neuropathy, sciatica, and more. Mammograms use ionized radiation - a carcinogenic agent that causes damage to the body. Mammograms can detect lumps of various types but have a difficult time distinguishing between solid tumours as would be found in a malignancy, and fluid filled tumours as would be found in the case of fibre-adenoma cyst. With infrared thermography all possible epidemiological limitations, precautions or restrictions disappear. Thanks to the passive diagnosis method and absence of any patient-doctor contact, a thermographic exam cannot negatively affect the patient’s health in any way, not even theoretically. Thus, infrared thermography opens new prospects for its use in diagnostic screening. In the absence of other positive tests, an abnormal picture obtained with a thermal imager gives a woman early warning and the need for intervention, or change in lifestyle, diet, or other breast health factors. With close monitoring and serial thermal imaging, a woman can monitor breast health and has a much better chance of detecting cancer at its earliest stage and preventing invasive tumour growth. Thermography can detect abnormalities before the onset of a malignancy, and as early as ten years before being recognized by other procedures such as manual breast exam, mammography, ultrasound or MRI. Although widely embraced by alternative health care practitioners, thermography’s obscurity in the mainstream means that too many women rely on mammograms as their only option. There are several reasons for thermography’s lack of support by the conventional medical community. Early thermal scanners were not very sensitive, nor were they well-tested before being used in clinical practice. This resulted in many misdiagnosed cases and its utter dismissal by the medical community. Since then the technology has advanced dramatically and thermography now uses highly sensitive state-of-the-art infrared cameras and sophisticated computers. In 1982, the (USA) FDA approved thermography for breast cancer screening, yet most of the medical establishment is either unaware of it or still associates it with its early false start. Since most women are also uninformed of the technology there is no pressure on the medical community to support it. Unfortunately, its use in Australia is also not very well-known. Because 1 in 3 women will get breast cancer, we must use every means possible to detect cancers when there is the greatest chance for survival. The addition of thermal imaging to the frontline of early breast cancer detection brings a great deal of good news for women
