Red herring warning

The FDA has just released a “safety communication” about thermographic breast cancer screening.

Yeah, you can pretty much predict exactly where this is going to go.

As I’ve told you before, thermography uses infrared imagining to screen for breast cancer. That’s an important clue that this method is on the right track, because it eliminates exposure to radiation.

But the FDA is having NONE of that.

Here’s a quote from the “communication:” “The FDA is concerned that women will believe these misleading claims about thermography and not receive needed mammograms.”

According to the agency, the primary “misleading claim” is that thermography is a replacement for mammography.

Just as with the drug industry, we can rely on the FDA to fully support mammography, because radiology is a huge financial generator in the medical mainstream, just like pharmaceuticals.

Also consider the enormous outlay of funds required by hospitals, radiology clinics, and academic centers to purchase the very expensive equipment and train medical professionals to use it.

Obviously, no one in this tight financial circle wants to see a safer, less expensive, more effective technology appear more attractive than mammograms.

Not to mention…they aren’t the best at admitting when they’re wrong…

Picking up on the heat

Thermography harnesses infrared imaging in a simple and brilliant way.

As explained by Philip Getson, D.O. — a medical thermographer for nearly 30 years — cancers manage to activate inactive blood vessels, or even create new blood vessels to deliver glucose and other nutrients to support the multiplying cancer cells.

At its very earliest stages, this activity generates just enough heat to be detected by infrared imaging cameras.

So what we have are three major factors that make thermography far superior to mammography: 1) No radiation exposure, 2) Earlier detection of breast cancer, and 3) No painful breast compression (which can also prompt the spread of some tumors).

In a recent Huffington Post article, Christiane Northrup, M.D. -– an ob/gyn and bestselling author –- reviewed these and other thermography benefits.

Dr. Northrup notes that thermography may be able to detect cancer activity eight to 10 years earlier than any other screening method. The reason? Thermal imaging identifies abnormal activity on the cellular level.

That’s one reason why thermograms produce “unambiguous results” in identifying cancerous and even pre-cancerous cells. And those clear results cut way down on the need for further tests.

Here’s why that’s a HUGE benefit: Around one million breast tumor biopsies are performed each year. And about 800,000 turn out to be benign. That’s a two-in-ten success rate in judging biopsy need, which is a pretty dreadful record considering that biopsies are often expensive and cause significant anxiety in patients.

Of course, like any technology, thermography is only as good as the thermologist.

Dr. Getson (a colleague of Dr. Northrup) notes the importance of finding a board-certified doctor like himself who is specially trained to interpret thermographic images.

You can find a qualified thermologist in your area by using the Find a Doc feature on our website. And you can also visit the International Academy of Clinical Thermology website at iact-org.org.

Sources:
“Thermographic Imaging Systems for Breast Cancer Screening: FDA Safety Communication” FDA MedWatch, 6/2/11, fda.gov
“The Best Breast Test: The Promise of Thermography” Christiane Northrup, M.D., Huffington Post, 10/12/10,
huffingtonpost.com
“The promise of thermography” Dr. Christiane Northrup, M.D., Proactive Breast Health, 10/14/10, proactivebreasthealth.com

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