Women are encouraged to get a mammogram so they can find their breast cancer as early as possible. But instead of early detection, let’s be proactive in our Breast Health and identify risk factors so plans can be put into action to improve the health of the breast and reverse developing pathology. This is prevention, not just early detection.
Mammograms image the structure of the breast and thermography images the physiology (for example, an x-ray of your heart shows how big it is and where it is in your chest, whereas an EKG will show the function of the heart). Thermography “shows” the function of the breasts and how healthy they are.
Mammograms are after the fact; they can only see what is already there. They can identify a mass, if it is large enough, but cannot distinguish the difference between a benign lump and a cancerous tumor.
A tumor must be fed by blood vessels and that vascular formation starts many years before the tumor begins to grow. The vascular feed produces heat which can be seen with thermal imaging. This is an indication that either your body is preparing to produce a cancerous tumor or the mass that is present is most likely cancerous.
There is a large margin between healthy breasts and breast cancer and it’s helpful to know where you fall within that spectrum. There are many factors that can contribute to unhealthy breasts such as dense and fibrocystic breasts, calcifications, lymph congestion, inflammation, thyroid dysfunction, hormone imbalances and more, which can contribute to dis-ease and a possible unfavorable diagnosis down the road.
Thermography can tell you how healthy the breasts are instead of just screening for breast cancer. It also has the potential to truly detect breast cell anomalies long before mammography can detect cancer. This allows one to implement lifestyle changes that can improve the health of the breasts proactively instead of waiting for a cancer diagnosis later.
It’s important to know what’s happening so you can make positive changes to increase your breast health. Thermography is an excellent tool for you and your health care practitioner to help identify specific challenges and then monitor the results of the changes you make.
There are many things that we can do to avoid breast cancer but knowing your risk factors should be at the top of the list. With proper risk assessment that includes different testing modalities, the patient is able to determine her risk factors and develop an action plan on how to improve the breast tissue or even reverse the existing developments. Or hopefully, see that you have a low risk for breast cancer so you have one less thing to worry about. Knowledge is power!
