In the 12/18/01 e-Alert, I wrote about new research that supported what many in the alternative medicine community had been saying for years – that mammography does not save women’s lives. As the study pointed out, tumors large enough to be detected by mammography have been growing in the body for a decade or more – too late to truly be called “early detection.” The study called into question the entire theory on which mammography is based – namely, that if you can catch a tumor when it is still too small to be felt, you have a window of opportunity for successful treatment. According to these researchers, the data from decades of widespread mammography don’t bear that out.
In the weeks since, we’ve heard from a lot of you on this topic. Some wrote to share inspiring stories of a personal experience, or a loved one’s experience, where mammography DID save lives. Many others wrote to express their frustration: we know that mammography is not an ideal early detection tool. But what other choices do we have?
That’s just what your HSI membership is about: choices. We’re here to offer you alternatives. And so, over the past few weeks, we’ve talked with our panelists about their research into other early breast cancer detection methods. We’ve found two promising procedures that are available to you right now, and that you can use either alone or in conjunction with mammography to provide a clearer picture of your true risk. Both can actually detect cancer earlier than a mammogram alone. And both are simple, non-invasive procedures that are completely safe.
True early detection: catching cancer activity before tumors even form
Today I’ll tell you about the first method, which was brought to our attention by HSI panelist Dr. Victor Marcial-Vega. It’s called digital infrared imaging (DII), or thermography. It uses infrared cameras to detect patterns of temperature change in tissue. And it may allow you to catch cancer cells at work before a tumor even forms.
Remember, as long as a decade before a tumor can be detected on a mammogram, pre-cancerous cells begin to form. Through a process called neoangiogenesis, cancer cells develop a network of blood vessels to feed their growth. This is an accepted premise in oncology; in fact, a new class of cancer drugs called anti-angiogenesis agents is designed to cut off cancer’s food supply by blocking the development of new blood vessels. But doctors don’t know to prescribe these drugs until a cancerous tumor is already present. What if we could detect this activity when it first begins, before cancer has a chance to put down roots?
That’s just what digital infrared imaging can do. This sophisticated imaging procedure can detect subtle changes in temperature in different areas of breast tissue. Higher temperatures in certain areas indicate abnormal biochemical and blood vessel activity – which may indicate pre-cancerous development.
The process is simple. The ultra-sensitive infrared camera doesn’t even touch your body – it just captures high-resolution diagnostic images of your breasts from different angles. The resulting “pictures” show patterns of skin temperature in the breast and surrounding tissues. Many factors can influence the accuracy of a mammogram – but infrared imaging works on just about every woman: women on hormone replacement therapy, women with fibrocystic or dense breast tissue, even women with large or surgically enhanced breasts.
Early warning gives you opportunity for action – and hope for cure
For this reason, many consider DII a better choice for routine breast screening. An annual DII procedure can offer much easier detection than mammography, and does not subject you to the uncomfortable, or even painful, compression of a mammogram. If your DII is normal, a mammogram is not necessary. And if it is abnormal (especially after previous normal images), the chances are good that you’ve caught it very early.
If you do have an abnormal reading, your doctor will probably follow up with another imaging procedure, like MRI, ultrasound, or even mammography. That’s because DII can’t pinpoint the exact location of cancerous cells or determine if a mass is present. Additional procedures are still necessary to see if a tumor has already formed, and if so, to confirm that it is malignant. But often, follow-up ultrasounds and mammograms detect nothing because the cancer is still too small to be seen with those techniques. Women with an abnormal infrared image but no detectable mass have a valuable opportunity to begin boosting their bodies’ cancer-fighting power in a number of ways – and to continue with a regular schedule of self-exams, physician exams, infrared imaging procedures, and other techniques to detect further growth.
Although infrared imaging has been around since the 1970s, it still isn’t widely used. However, technological advances and more recent scientific research have made infrared imaging one of the most promising developments in cancer detection today. HSI panelist, Dr. Victor Marcial-Vega, who is a board-certified oncologist, now uses thermography regularly with his patients at his Health Horizons Rejuvenation Clinic in Florida. Most insurance programs still don’t cover DII, which typically costs between $150 and $175 U.S. But you can still take advantage of this leading-edge procedure. To find a qualified breast thermography site in your area, visit the International Academy of Clinical Thermology website at http://www.iact-org.org/thermographyer_links.html.
So far, medical science has not come up with one test that can definitively predict who will develop breast cancer. But, for now, DII is a good place to start, and a good option to be aware of. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about another possibility – a simple blood test that can predict malignant breast cancer with 97 percent sensitivity. Until then
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