Thermography for Detection of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in the United States, with about 235,000 diagnosed in 2014, according to the National Cancer Institute.[i] Typically, conventional doctors will recommend that women do a yearly mammogram after age 35, which is an x-ray exam of the breast that’s used to detect cancer.

Unfortunately, mammography is not very accurate for diagnosing breast cancer, and the radiation that it exposes women to can actually cause cancer! John W. Gofman, M.D., Ph.D., an authority on the effects of ionizing radiation, spent 30 years studying the effects of low-dose radiation on humans. He estimated that 75% of all breast cancers could be prevented if women avoided or minimized their exposure to ionizing radiation from mammography, x-rays, and other medical devices[ii].

In addition to exposing women to harmful radiation, the actual mammography procedure, which compresses the breast, may help to spread an existing mass of cancer cells, and cause them to metastasize from the breast tissue.

Further, a Swedish study on 60,000 women who had done mammography testing showed that 70% of the 726 who were referred to an oncologist for treatment actually did not have cancer![iii] And according to an article in The Lancet, of the 5% of mammograms that suggest further testing, as high as 93% show up as false positives.[iv]

A good way to find out whether you are really at risk for breast cancer or already have it is through thermography testing, which is an excellent alternative to mammograms. Thermography uses infrared imaging technology to detect and measure heat and vascular patterns within the breast that can indicate cancer. Good thermography devices, if used properly, can detect 86% of non-palpable breast cancers (breast cancers that you can’t see or feel yet).

As well, thermography can detect abnormal findings in the breast, up to ten years before a cancerous tumor can be detected on a mammogram. It can also be used to track your progress on a treatment regimen and is completely safe, non-contact, pain and radiation-free.

Meet Board-Certified Thermologist -  Dr. Martin Bales, L.Ac., Ph.D.

At the Center, we work with a board-certified thermologist and licensed acupuncturist, Martin Bales, L.Ac., Ph.D., who uses a very sophisticated thermography device to screen our patients for breast cancer.

According to Dr. Bales, the thermography device can track inflammatory processes, but more importantly, it reveals vascular, or vein patterns in the breast.  These patterns look a bit like “spider veins”- and indicate a patient’s level of cancer risk.

The more extensive the vein patterns, the more likely it is that a woman is either at risk for cancer or already has cancer, especially if the breasts are asymmetrical, and one breast has more vein development than the other.  The veins indicate that the body is potentially creating new blood vessels to feed a tumor.

It is normal to have veins in your body, around the areas of your extremities (ie, wrists), but you aren’t supposed to have a lot of veins in your breasts. Of course, these veins are only visible on a thermography device, not visually, but if they show up on the device, then this means that cancer could be brewing in your body.  According to Dr. Bales, in younger women, these veins are caused primarily by birth control pills, and in older women, by synthetic hormone replacement therapy (HRT).  The other main causes are soy and flaxseed.

Many people nowadays know that soy isn’t good for you, but most people still think that flax is okay. It’s not! Soy and flaxseed contain phytoestrogens, which mimic the effects of natural estrogen upon the body. Most people today are estrogen-dominant; meaning, they have too much estrogen, and this fuels the development of some types of reproductive cancers, like breast cancer.

Dr. Bales contends that when women quit taking birth control and HRT therapy and stop consuming flax and soy, their vascular patterns change for the better.

One thing that’s important to understand about thermography is that the color and heat pattern function of the thermography device doesn’t reveal whether you have breast cancer, yet many practitioners use the heat pattern function of the device to scan their patients for breast cancer. So it’s important to find a technician or doctor who understands the importance of looking at vascular patterns in your breast, not just areas of inflammation in your body.

Thermography is also useful for revealing the number of xenoestrogens (or “foreign estrogens,” as it translates from the original Greek) and phytoestrogens that are in your body. Xenoestrogens are chemicals that come from environmental toxins and are a primary cause of cancer.

If you find that you have an abnormal vein pattern, to do a test through Genova Diagnostic Laboratories to find out how many xenoestrogenic toxins, including phthalates and parabens that you have in your body. These chemicals disrupt hormones, particularly estrogen, by binding to estrogen receptors in your body. They cause abnormal vein patterns in the breast, so you’ll want to find out whether you have these kinds of toxins in your body, and if so, get them removed.