Breast Cancer Feels The Heat By:
Dr. Linda Fickes One
in 48 Caucasian women in Honolulu are currently being treated for
breast cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health. There
is a new, safe and accurate means of early detection now available in
Honolulu to help decrease these numbers: breast thermography.
Thermography uses an infrared camera to read the heat-emitting patterns
of the body. Breast thermography can detect precancerous heat patterns up
to 10 years before a shape can be detected by mammogram. In other words,
thermography reads the heat and activity of the cells, instead of reading
shapes like a mammogram does. When the first sign of breast cancer is
detected by thermography, survival rate increases 61 percent. Thermography
is 88 percent accurate for early diagnosis of breast disease for people of
all ages, even those with breast implants. There is also no health risk,
compression or radiation. In
comparison, mammograms are only 19 percent accurate for women under
40, who have the most aggressive breast cancers. For women over 40,
mammograms are 40-60 percent accurate. In addition, after 15 mammograms,
the risk of mammogram- Thermography
has undergone extensive research since it was first used to spy on the
Russians in the 1950s. There are over 800 peer-reviewed studies on
breast thermography in the index medicus. Over 300,000 women have been
study participants and some studies have followed patients up to 12 years.
In 1982, the FDA approved breast thermography as an adjunctive diagnostic
breast cancer screening. Early
thermography studies showed
cancerous hot spots in women’s breasts that could not be verified by
mammogram. Thermography was dismissed as inaccurate, and cancer research
funding went to mammography. Ten years later,
the hot spots shown on the thermo-grams had become breast cancers that
were verifiable by mammogram. The average breast cancer has been
growing for 8 to 15 years before it is large enough to be seen on a
mammogram. Thermography
can rate the risk level of a breast lump, which is particularly valuable
for women who have had confusing or unclear mammograms. This helps prevent
needless, painful and expensive biopsies. Thermography
screening is recommended to start at age 20, with screenings every 3
years. After age 40, annual exams are recommended. Thermography gives the
opportunity for very early detection, so there is time to comfortably
choose the healing therapies that expand the quality of life. Dr. Linda Fickes
practices in Honolulu at Fickes Holistic Care Corp. She can be reached at
377-1811. |