Dr. Mercola posted a very thorough article today on the topic of mammography vs thermography. See the entire article at http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/11/26/why-mammography-is-not-an-effective-breast-cancer-screen.aspx.
Every year I see more and more articles popping up supporting the use of thermography, and every year my personal physician writes an order for mammography. This year I intend to print a copy of this article when it is time for my annual checkup.
Are any of your personal physicians currently ordering thermography? If so, does your insurance carrier cover it? I would love to hear your personal experiences. Please feel free to comment.
Dr. Mercola references an article Beyond Mammography, written by Dr. Len Saputo, a graduate of Duke University Medical School, Founder and Director of the Health Medicine Forum, Co-founder/Medical Director of the Health Medicine Institute and Health Medicine Center, and in private practice in Internal Medicine and Health Medicine. Dr. Mercola states:
“Breast thermography, which involves using a heat-sensing scanner to detect variations in the temperature of breast tissue, has been around since the 1960s. However, early infrared scanners were not very sensitive, and were insufficiently tested before being put into clinical practice, resulting in misdiagnosed cases.
Modern-day breast thermography boasts vastly improved technology and more extensive scientific clinical research.
In fact, the article references data from major peer review journals and research on more than 300,000 women who have been tested using the technology. Combined with the successes in detecting breast cancer with greater accuracy than other methods, the technology is slowly gaining ground among more progressive practitioners.
Education and awareness of better, less risky and more effective options for detecting breast cancer are woefully deficient, but they do exist, and it is my hope you will take the time to review this important information, whether you’re a man or a woman, and forward it widely to your family and friends.”
Please take time to review the article. It presents a very convincing case regarding the hazards of mammography vs the benefits of thermography. The following comments are very compelling:
“Thermographic Breast Screening – A Safer, More Effective Alternative
Most physicians continue to recommend mammograms for fear of being sued by a woman who develops breast cancer after he did not advise her to get one. But I encourage you to think for yourself and consider safer, more effective alternatives to mammograms.
The option for breast screening that I most highly recommend is called thermographic breast screening.
Thermographic screening is brilliantly simple. It measures the radiation of infrared heat from your body and translates this information into anatomical images. Your normal blood circulation is under the control of your autonomic nervous system, which governs your body functions.
Thermography uses no mechanical pressure or ionizing radiation, and can detect signs of breast cancer as much as 10 years earlier than either mammography or a physical exam!
Whereas mammography cannot detect a tumor until after it has been growing for years and reaches a certain size, thermography is able to detect the possibility of breast cancer much earlier.
It can even detect the potential for cancer before any tumors have formed because it can image the early stages of angiogenesis — the formation of a direct supply of blood to cancer cells, which is a necessary step before they can grow into tumors of size.
More men’s lives could also be spared from the disease as mammography is not frequently used on men, which leads to most men with breast cancer being diagnosed at a very late stage.”
Wow! I look forward to hearing about your personal experiences with thermography!
I first suggest you Google images for breast thermography and compare them to images of mammograms. Digital or otherwise. Thermography does not visualize the glandular tissue or the vascularity of the breast. Mammograms can detect breast cancers that are as small as the tip of a sharpened pencil. Mammography catches cancers in the first stages not after it’s been growing for years. The “mechanical” compression is negligible only 2 to 3 pounds of pressure. The compression only last for few seconds. And as for the radiation, you get more radiation sitting in front of your computer for a few hours at a time or laying out in the sun.
Thank you for the feedback. Judging from your email title, you must work in the xray field. I appreciate you taking the time to share your knowledge. There is just so much different information out there. It is hard to know what to believe. Rosie