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.

Women of all ages can benefit from breast thermography. This radiation-free screening is especially appropriate for women, ages 25 - 50, whose denser breast tissue makes mammography less effective. It fills the gap in this age group where women are left without a safe breast screening available to them. 

Thermography plays a role in early detection of breast disease by monitoring for abnormal physiological changes. Since it takes years for a tumor to grow, the sooner young women begin to make breast thermography part of their yearly health screening, the better their chances for early detection and even prevention.

Here is some information to help put it all into perspective...

Unfortunately, breast cancer is a reality among women of all ages. Presently, there is no miracle cure. The current screenings used have failed to provide women with early enough detection. Breast thermography makes up for these shortcomings by providing a screening that not only aids in earlier detection but can actually guide us toward prevention. All women should consider themselves candidates for this invaluable annual screening!

Learn more at our Breast Health page and schedule an appointment today!