Breast Thermography
For your breast health…
Since its first large scale uses in the 1980s, breast thermography has developed into an important tool in the fight against breast cancer. As a safe, comfortable and extremely sensitive procedure, thermography is used to detect both a pre-cancerous state of the breast and the earliest signs of breast cancer.
Sophisticated cameras and computer systems are used to measure heat from the surface of the breasts and produce an image that can be evaluated for abnormalities. Alterations in these images are caused when cellular changes increase blood flow, thus warming the breast. Because of thermography’s extreme sensitivity, these changes may be among the earliest signs of pre-cancerous and/or cancerous tissue formation.
Early Detection Means Life
Thermography’s unique ability to see the abnormal heat changes produced by diseased breast tissue allows for extremely early detection.
What Does Breast Thermography Have To Offer?
The earliest breast cancer detection available.
Breast Thermography has the ability to warn women up to 8 years earlier than any other procedure that a cancer may be forming, thus allowing for prompt and timely treatment.
Individualized breast cancer risk assessment.
Women with a family history are definitely at greater risk, but 75% of women who get breast cancer have no family history of the disease. If discovered, certain thermographic risk markers can warn a woman she needs to be vigilant in monitoring her breast health.
An important role in breast cancer prevention.
The greatest single risk factor for breast cancer is lifetime exposure of the breasts to estrogen. Breast Thermography plays a significant role in prevention by warning women if they have estrogen activation of the breasts.
Accurate screening for women under 40.
Do you know that approximately 1/3 of all breast cancers occur in women under 45? Breast Thermography offers women in this age group a sensitive, non-invasive (no radiation and painless ) method of monitoring their breast health.
What Makes Breast Thermography So Unique?
Thermography uses no radiation and poses absolutely NO health risks to the patient. Consequently, scans may be performed at any frequency necessary.
Signs of pre-cancerous tissue or early stage cancers that are too small to be found by physical examination and mammography can be discovered with thermography.
Certain types of cancers will not be detected on a mammogram for various reasons, but many of such cancers will be discovered with thermography.
Difficulties in reading mammograms can occur in women who are on hormone replacement, nursing or have fibrocystic, large, dense, or enhanced breasts. These types of breast differences do not cause difficulties in reading thermograms.
Since thermography does not involve contact with the skin, the procedure is quite comfortable.
Studies show that an abnormal thermogram is the single most important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer, 10 times more significant than a family history of the disease.
It takes 8-10 years for a dime-sized tumor to grow. Breast Thermography can be the first signal that such a possibility is developing.
*Baseline thermogram at age 20
*20-30 years of age every three years
*30 years of age and over every year
By maintaining close monitoring of a woman’s breast health with serial thermography, self-breast exams, clinical examinations, and other tests, a woman has a much better chance of detecting cancer at its earliest stage and preventing invasive tumor growth.
For more information, call the office at #417-869-3000.
We’ll be happy to answer your questions and/or schedule an appointment for you.