Why Have I Not Heard About This?
Like many alternative diagnostic tools or treatments,
the facts are not always disclosed. Thermography was
summarily dropped from breast screening in the 1980's
after only 1 year of use. The reason was cited as being
it detected too many false positives and therefore was
not specific enough. This is ironic since the mammogram
has a 65% false positive rate and recent studies have
shown that it is a poor predictive tool. 90% of medical
doctors
know nothing of the technology and so are critical of
that which they don't know. The other 10% seem to quote
research from 22 years ago from a few small studies and
ignore the plethora of positive research.
Is it accurate?
Yes, as a routine screening tool, it has been shown
to be 97% effective at detecting benign vs malignant
breast abnormalities. Another study tracked 1537
women with abnormal thermograms for 12 years. They
had normal mammograms and physical exams. Within 5
years, 40% of the women developed malignancies. The
researchers commented ""an abnormal thermogram is
the single most important marker of high risk for
the future development of breast cancer" These
results have been repeated over and over again for
nearly 30 years.
Is It Safe?
While a variety of studies have called into
question the safety of cumulative exposures to
radiation, this is not the case with
Thermography. Thermography emits nothing,
it only takes an image. Nothing touches you and
it is quick and painless. This all makes
Thermography great for frequent screening with
no chance of danger.
Who Reads the Images?
The images are sent via secured server to
EMI Meditherm Interpretation which are
a professional group of physicians who are
trained in the protocols of reading Thermal
images. A very formal interpretation is made
and sent to us where we will review the
results and make suggestions or referrals if
necessary. You are given a copy of the
report and frequently we send copies of the
reports to physicians for their records.
What If I get
Abnormal Results? What Do I Do?
Thermography is not diagnostic but gives
early risk factors. This is great news
because an abnormal result from a
thermogram often buys time so that
natural interventions such as herbs,
supplements and lifestyle changes can
influence the outcome. At the least, the
condition can be closely monitored
safely until conventional interventions
need to be applied. It is important to
recognize that early detection is
the key to a good outcome. Remember, if
it were not for thermography, this
abnormality would have continued to grow
for up to 10 years until you can
actually feel the lump. I will make
recommendations or referrals as
necessary.
How
deep does the camera see?
Thermal imaging can only
see the surface of the skin, however
the autonomic nervous system
controls the blood flow to the skin
and so this will reflect the state
of the tissues under the skin.
So, while saying that "thermography
only sees the first millimeters of
depth" is technically true, it
misses the physiological response
that controls the temperature at the
surface. Just as someone turning
red with embarrassment is an
autonomic response to an emotional
reaction, the changes seen with thermography are an autonomic
response to the tissues underneath.
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