Government researchers reported in April, at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, that "new breast cancer cases in the U.S. are forecast to rise by as much as 50% by 2030." They estimated that "the total number of new breast cancer cases would increase from 283,000 in 2011 to an estimated 441,000 in 2030." These are very scary statistics! http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-breast-cancer-cases-2030-20150420-story.html

The study offered no theories as to the causes associated with this increase in numbers. With so much focus on the awareness, early detection, and treatment of breast cancer, it seems that the numbers should be decreasing. Apparently we are missing something. Maybe PREVENTION?

Statistics show that the risk of getting breast cancer increases with age. Approximately 77% of women are over 50 when diagnosed with breast cancer. Could the accumulation of radiation from having a mammogram, year after year (with many recalls), contribute to the increase in breast cancer as women age? It's something to think about. (Breast thermography is radiation free!)

What about our environment? A woman's exposure to the hormone estrogen is associated with her risk of developing breast cancer. Certain chemicals in the environment act like estrogen in our bodies. A few examples of these "xenoestrogens" that build up in our bodies over a lifetime are weed killers, pesticides, and plastics. 

Some proof of this is stated on the Breast Cancer Action website where it says: "Non-industrialized countries have lower breast cancer rates than industrialized countries. People who move to industrialized countries from countries with low rates develop the same breast cancer rates of the industrialized country."
As Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." What are some things we can do to be more cautious? Here's what the Breast Cancer Action website suggests. (http://www.bcaction.org/)

Happy Mother's Day! Bring your Mom or Daughter for a breast thermogram
and you will each receive $10 off (expires May 31st)

Call Thermography Center of Memphis at (901) 249-8642 or visit our website at www.memphisthermography.com to schedule your radiation-free breast and body thermograms TODAY!

By taking these suggestions to heart, hopefully we will be able to change these predicted statistics and send the numbers down instead of up.

A recent obituary that included a picture in the local newspaper spoke of a beautiful 30 year old woman who had lost her life to inflammatory breast cancer. Among those she left behind were her husband and two young children. What is inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) and why is it considered the most aggressive form of breast cancer?

Inflammatory Breast Cancer is characterized by cancer cells that infiltrate the skin and lymph vessels of the breast. It is an advanced form of breast cancer that accelerates quickly and is usually not detected by mammogram or ultrasound. No distinct lump or tumor is found.

IBC accounts for up to 5% of all breast cancers in the United States and it is important for everyone to know the signs and symptoms. According to the Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Institute (http://www.ibcresearch.org), one or more of the following symptoms might indicate IBC. Changes can occur quickly! It's time to see your healthcare professional if symptoms persist for more than two weeks.

What can be done to help prevent IBC?  According to the Feel Good Factor Lymphology Clinic in the UK (http://www.fgf.uk.com/content/breastwise), "Just because you can't see it happening doesn't mean you can't stop it from starting in the first place." They suggest the following tips for healthy breasts:

There is a safe breast screening available that can detect early changes in breast tissue. Since thermography (digital thermal imaging) is a test of physiology and measures heat changes in the body, a breast thermogram is an ideal early assessment tool for use in prevention of IBC.

Every year, millions of dollars are spent on items that are "pink," representing the pink ribbon that is associated with breast cancer. In October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, everyone wants to get on board with having their products pink. It's as if buying pink products will actually help find a cure for breast cancer. When it first began, I'm sure that was the intention. But now, looking at statistics, we see that this "awareness" has not led to a decrease in breast cancer or finding a cure. While everyone is personally aware of breast cancer, it seems that awareness is just not enough.

Many women with breast cancer feel that "pinkwashing" is taking advantage of their illness. A variety of products that carry the pink ribbon actually contain ingredients that are known carcinogens. While these companies consider themselves as leaders in the fight against breast cancer, they continue to use ingredients in their products that contribute to cancer.

Breast Cancer Action is a national education and activist organization whose mission is to achieve health justice for all women at risk of and living with breast cancer. Karuna Jaggar, executive director of Breast Cancer Action, says:

"Pinkwashing has become a central component of the breast cancer industry: a web of relationships and financial arrangements between corporations that cause cancer, companies making billions off diagnosis and treatment, nonprofits seeking to support patients or even to cure cancer, and public relations agencies that divert attention from the root causes of disease."

The quote above definitely makes us pause and take a real look at the "pinkwashing" façade. As women, we must open our eyes and move awareness into action. We must be vigilant--continually searching for answers and guidelines to use in living a healthy life. If we fight on the front end and concentrate on prevention, our mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, and friends will eventually be able to live a life free from the stress, pain, and loss due to breast cancer.

Jamie Kiffel-Alchec, managing editor of Clean Plates, suggests adding 8 naturally pink foods to the diet to help fight breast cancer (http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/8-pink-foods-fight-breast-cancer-1).

Breast Thermography: A big step toward early detection and prevention of breast cancer

Visit our website at www.memphisthermography.com or call (901) 249-8642

Don’t miss out on our Breast Package Special!
(extended through the end of November)

Angiogenesis is defined as "the physiological process through which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels." Angiogenesis occurs normally in embryo development and wound healing. In addition, women in their reproductive years go through normal angiogenesis each month. These new blood vessels are the key to forming the uterine lining that is shed during menstruation. The healthy body maintains its blood vessels in a continued state of balance.

However, in certain diseases, angiogenesis can occur too often or not enough. In most forms of heart disease there is a decrease in the chemicals that would stimulate new blood vessels to grow. On the other hand, an abnormal and rapid growth of blood vessels has been implicated in many diseases, including cancer.

These new blood vessels grow to feed cancers. If we could stop the formation of these vessels, could we actually cut off a tumor’s blood supply? Could we actually starve a tumor by cutting off its oxygen and nutrients? William Li, head of the nonprofit Angiogenesis Foundation thinks so. He suggests that the first step in anti-angiogenesis is "eating foods that cut off the supply lines and beat cancer at its own game" (video can be seen below).

Eat to Beat Cancer (http://www.eattobeat.org) is studying the potency of certain foods to determine their anti-angiogenesis capabilities in hopes of establishing a new cancer preventative diet. Dr. Li says that "once a food has been established as antiangiogenic, the next step is determining which strain or varietal of that food is the most potent."

If we can concentrate on eating a diet that is full of foods that have antiangiogenic properties, we will be more likely to "starve" tiny microscopic cancer cells--preventing them from developing into full grown tumors. These foods can actually boost our body's ability to produce angiogenesis inhibitors naturally.
 
I'm sure you're wondering what foods are included in this list! In discussing beneficial foods, Dr. Li points out that "We need red grapes. If you’re not crazy about red grapes, red wine will do the trick. Not a big drinker? Green tea works. If you like curry, you'll be glad to hear that turmeric can help; if you're a baker, ready that cinnamon shaker. Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries; oranges, grapefruit and lemons; apples and pineapples; soy beans, kale and bok choy; garlic, tomatoes and olive oil—all these common foods are also weapons against the development of cancer. (Oh, and don't forget dark chocolate. I know I won't.)"

Thermography is a test of physiology that has the ability to detect angiogenesis. By "eating to starve cancer" and incorporating thermography into your yearly wellness evaluation, inhibiting cancer can truly become a reality.

It's October… time to take care of your breast health.

Call today at (901) 249-8642
or visit our website at www.memphisthermography.com
to learn about our Breast Package Special!

There have been a lot of articles lately questioning the value of routine mammography. You might have heard about the recent study done in Canada about mammography and its ability to save lives. The 25 year study, following 90,000 women ages 40-59, was published in the British Medical Journal. The study compared breast cancer incidence and mortality in those women who either had or didn't have mammography screening.

Some of the conclusions of the study were that regular mammogram screenings do not reduce breast cancer death rates and that women in the mammography group were more likely to be misdiagnosed (or over diagnosed) with breast cancer that wasn't there.

If you think about it, exposing healthy breasts to radiation, year after year, as a form of early detection and prevention makes no sense--especially since radiation has been shown to cause cancer! According to the American Cancer Society (cancer.org), one of the cancers included in the list of those most strongly linked to radiation exposure is breast cancer.

So what are women to do? Why should we take a healthy part of our bodies and expose it to danger year after year? Could the so called "cure" be part of the cause? Women need a safe way to monitor breast health!

Breast thermography is definitely part of the answer! Thermography provides the opportunity to detect changes at any stage in the development of a breast tumor. Signs of breast cancer can be seen as early as the first year and onward. With mammography, tumors aren't dense enough to be seen until around the 8th year. This very early detection though thermography provides the chance for early intervention. Preventative treatment, which includes lifestyle changes and vitamin/mineral optimization, have been shown to improve breast health when it is caught in the earliest stages. 

You might suffer from aches and pains in your breasts, especially around the time of your period, and wonder what is causing it. Usually characterized by lumpiness and discomfort in one or both breasts, fibrocystic breast changes are due to small cysts or masses in the breast. In some women it can be very mild and only cause pain during the premenstrual period while in others there can be constant pain and tenderness. Although fibrocystic breasts become less of a problem after menopause, it is common in 60% of women and most common between the ages of 30 and 50.

So what causes this pain and tenderness in the breast? It's a response of the breast tissue to the natural hormones produced by the ovaries. The lumps felt are either fluid filled sacs (cysts) or swelling of the milk producing glands. Although these changes are benign and not dangerous, they can cause routine breast exams and mammograms to be very painful.

Fibrocystic breasts make it more difficult to palpate and identify a new lump among the existing ones and can also make it more difficult for doctors to identify breast cancer with a mammogram. Since some of the cysts can look or feel like cancerous lumps, a biopsy is usually performed to rule out cancer.

According to the Breast Cancer Coalition, "as early as 1928, physicians were warned to 'handle cancerous breasts with care – for fear of accidentally disseminating cells' and spreading cancer."

Today, all of the probing, squishing, x-rays, and routine biopsies may result in more trauma and increase the risk of developing and/or spreading cancerous cells.

Thermography is ideal for breast screening in women with fibrocystic breasts. It is radiation free and compression free. It can detect changes in the breast tissue as many as 8 years before a tumor can be seen on mammogram. 

Dr. Christiane Northrup, a leading surgeon and medical consultant in the area of breast cancer suggests, "instead of just screening for breast cancer, a thermogram can tell you how healthy your breasts are." Using thermography as part of an annual breast health screening can help make prevention of breast cancer a reality.

There's a website called "AreYouDense.org" that was created by Dr. Nancy Cappello. It's not talking about intelligence or common sense. It's talking about breast density. Statistics show that 2/3 of premenstrual women and 1/4 of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue. Dr. Cappello calls dense breast tissue the best-kept secret! While it can be detected during a routine mammogram, the medical community isn't sharing the information with us. Do you know if you have dense breast tissue?

Dr. Thomas Kolb, a radiologist who specializes in breast cancer detection, studied thousands of women with dense breast tissue that showed mammography missed 60% of cancers that were subsequently found on ultrasound. Breast tumors can be hidden from view in dense breast tissue because they both show up as white on mammography.

There is legislation going on in many states to ensure that all women are informed of this important breast health information. Fortunately for us, Tennessee is one of those states! Being told we have dense breast tissue gives us the option of adding other breast health screenings to our yearly routine.

Thermography is an important screening that should be added to annual wellness checkups for women of all ages. It can identify and assess the status of our breast health by detecting abnormal changes in the breast tissue. As a society, we are so focused on breast cancer awareness. Instead, let's focus on keeping our breasts healthy and preventing cancer in the first place. This can be accomplished by adding breast thermography to your yearly health screenings. 

To learn more, call 901-249-8642 or visit our breast health page.

We're already half way through the month of October, designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We are all aware of breast cancer. I'm sure that each one of you has been touched by a woman in your life suffering from this disease. Everyone is concentrating on the cure! I wonder why there isn't a larger campaign to start from the beginning and look for ways to prevent breast cancer before it starts.

There is a quote by Dr. Susan Love, Founder of the Breast Cancer Research Organization, that says: 

It's disheartening to hear year after year that the numbers really haven't changed. There aren't less cases of breast cancer among women of any age group. To quote Dr. Love again:

Whatever is being done now is not working. Something is missing from the equation. That's why it is sad when some doctors don't support and encourage women to add breast thermography to their yearly breast health screenings. Why wouldn't we want to have the full picture and all available resources on our side? I understand that some doctors might not be familiar with thermography. Since thermography shows abnormalities years before it shows up on mammography, maybe they feel that there is no treatment available to offer women.

Thermography can detect abnormal heat patterns when breast cancer cells first begin to divide. It can detect the beginning of new blood vessel growth that the body produces to supply nutrition to a tumor. It can show that the lymph system is congested and needs to be draining more efficiently. 

Thermography looks for changes in heat patterns of the breast tissue that have developed over time. Caught early enough, these changes can indicate an abnormality that can often be remedied with lifestyle changes.

Eating healthier, exercising our bodies more, practicing lymphatic massage, and making sure our vitamins and minerals are at their optimum levels are some of the lifestyle changes that can "move awareness into action" in the prevention of breast disease. We must take charge of our own health!

When I talk with people about the uses and benefits of Thermography, I have found their responses to be very interesting. It's as if they assume it is good for others but not important for themselves. Thermography has many uses throughout the body but I am referring specifically to breast thermography.

What each and every woman needs to know is that breast thermography is not just for others! Breast thermography is important for every woman starting in her early twenties. Thermography is important for YOU, and can offer information not available with other screenings.

I'm not suggesting giving up other screening methods. I'm suggesting adding a safe and easy screening that can only benefit women with increased information. With all of the money and attention being used to research cures for breast cancer, how far have we really come? Every day we are still touched by a friend or family member that has been diagnosed with breast cancer.

What makes us so resistant to taking things into our own hands and becoming proactive in our own health care? 

Don't we want to use every resource available to us to prevent this disease?
 
Why wouldn't every woman want to take every step possible to increase her chances for prevention and early detection of breast cancer?

Must we resort to thinking that cutting off our breasts is a normal act of prevention?

Please take this disease seriously! According to the American Cancer Society, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Don't be part of the statistic! Take care of yourself! YOU DESERVE IT!

It is with a very sad and heavy heart that I dedicate this blog to my cousin, Sherry Lee Goldberg, who passed away on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013. Following a bout with breast cancer many years ago, Sherry lost her difficult battle with uterine cancer at the age of 67. She will be remembered for her beautiful smile, her fun loving attitude, her dedication to her family and many friends, and helping others. She was described as "the sweetest person you would ever know."

The effects of Cancer on our society are so widespread; I don't think there is a single person that has not been touched by its cruelness. It seems we hear on a daily bases that there is another family member, friend, or acquaintance that has been touched by this dreadful disease. 

There is treatment available that prolongs life; but what quality of life are we offered? We are all hoping for a cure! Meanwhile, we must do our best to prevent cancer from stealing our lives and the lives of our loved ones. As individuals, we must become aware of our surroundings and learn all that we can about how to maintain optimum health. 

There is so much controversy in the news today that it gets confusing and overwhelming for us to identify the things that are truly important in keeping us healthy. One thing that we all have an abundance of in our lives that can truly affect the body is STRESS. We need to slow down a little, take deep breaths, and live our lives more consciously and with purpose.

My cousin Sherry wrote her own important rules to live by: 

I'm sure that following these suggestions will lead us to a more fulfilled, stress free, and healthy life.