Archived News of the Week
Thermal Breast Imaging
(The wave of the future for breast health)
I was led into a small, dark room filled with softly whirring machinery. Red and green lights blinked on and off, reminding me of something: Frequently when I am hiking in the mountains I have that prickly feeling at the back of my neck that the eyes of a wild thing - perhaps a mountain lion - are silently following me as I pick my way through the trees, and here I had the same feeling - as if the strangely human electronic eyes were watching me curiously, dispassionately through the dusk-like darkness.
I was asked to take off all my clothes from the waist up. I turned my back modestly from the incessantly blinking eyes, and did as I was asked.
I was then asked to stand with my arms stretched out to my sides.
"How long do I do this?" I asked. And she replied,, "Oh, for about ½ an hour." With a reassuring smile, she quietly left the room, leaving me all alone, in the curiously dusky light of the small room, with the machines, with the blinking lights. I felt a frisson of fear at the thought of standing this way for so long not being allowed to put my arms down. What if I couldn't do it? I felt as if I was balancing on a precarious tightrope, involved in some sort of strange college prank or rite of passage – one not of my choosing. Or was I remembering a past life when, accused of being a witch, I was placed in a colonial stockade .rs fixed in the locked holes – waiting to be burned at the stake because I was caught dispensing echinacea, manipulating body parts and contradicting the one AMA bloodletter in the community? I was slightly chilled in that small, dark room and felt an almost overwhelming need to drop my arms ("No, no, no, you can't!") and hug myself back into some semblance of comfort, warmth and security. I didn't know what was going to happen. I was having my first thermogram. OK. Thank you for putting up with the noir yellow journalism and flights of fictional fancy. I am here to tell you that my thermal breast imaging was a far better experience than any mammogram I have ever endured. My question after having experienced my first thermogram is this: Why would anyone opt for a mammogram when there is thermal breast imaging available? Forty percent of us aren't getting annual mammograms anyway (Could it be the discomfort factor?) so how about opting for thermal breast imaging instead? True, for thermal breast imaging you are in a dark-ish room, topless and holding your arms up for a long time (This takes the heat away from your armpits and breast tissue and gives a more accurate thermographic reading.), but the experience of having a thermogram is a spring stroll by the lake with birdies singing compared to a mammogram. You will experience no discomfort whatsoever and your fragile breast tissue will not be outrageously squeezed in those abominable mammogram machines. In fact, there is no contact with the breast tissue at all – just thermographic pictures which are totally safe unlike the radiation one receives from mammography. Here's how a thermal breast imaging works: Quite simply, a thermogram measures heat. Cancer cells are hotter than normal cells. So is any area of inflammation. Therefore any area of question will show up hotter (or redder on the thermogram picture) than healthier parts. Cancer cells also seek their own blood supply for nourishment. These vasodilated (hotter) areas will "typically form dilated looping patterns around the active cancer [which can be seen on the thermogram]." (Better Breast Health for Life, Tirza Derflinger, Founder CTT, et al. Not only is mammography dangerous because of the infernal squeezing of the breast which could disturb an in situ cancer and spread the cells, but it can't spot cancers until they are fairly large. Consequently, with mammograms there are a lot of false negatives. And because the radiologists who read the mammograms are aware of this, they tend to overcompensate by creating a good number of false positives, too which scare the wee out of the women who receive this news. Thermal breast imaging can detect – though the heat sensing of new blood supply – very small cancers – about 1/5 of 1mm, or the size of the tip of a ball point pen. Mammograms typically start detecting at 3mm which means that the cancer has been growing for up to 10 years: Thermography has helped to detect tumors as early as 10 years prior to that of mammograms alone, so for an early risk marker test, thermal breast imaging can't be beat. Your thermal reading is then sent to a radiologist skilled in the reading of the thermal indicators, and in a week or so, you will receive in your mailbox a detailed report complete with colorful thermographic pictures. There are certain thermobiological risk ratings that you will be graded on in the report, on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being no risk and 5 being "see your breast specialist right away." For an extra bit of money, you can also get your organs scanned. So, I not only had my breasts "done" but my organ systems thermographed: Liver, gall bladder, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, stomach and lungs and whatever else was hanging out in the torso area. The scan also included the entire length of my spine covering the neck and shoulders as well. Thermography, by the way, is a wonderful risk assessment tool for lung cancer: There is no other non-invasive way that I know of to detect early lung cancers. If you have a questionable thermogram, The Thermogram Center will suggest that you return in 3 months for another go-round, but this time they will consider just of the area in question and for a nominal fee. Better Breast Health for Life also has nutritional suggestions (as I do) for reversing less than optimal thermogram readings. Call The Thermogram Center at 303-664-1139 and talk to Tirza Derflinger to set up your appointment now. You could also log onto www.thermogramcenter.com and see examples of thermographic pictures and the information they provide. Just click onto "Illustrated Examples" about 2/3 way down the left hand side of the homepage. (For those of you who will still opt for the Rite of Mammogram despite the elegance, comfort and accuracy of the thermal breast imaging, I am reprinting three special exercises just for you, so that you can practice for your next mammogram. Exercise # 1) Open your refrigerator door and insert one breast between the door and the main box. Slam the door as hard as possible and then lean on the door for good measure. Hold that position for 5 seconds. (If you are electing thermal breast imaging, forget this exercise.) Exercise # 2) Visit your garage at 3am in the middle of winter when the temperature of the cement floor will be just perfect. Now lie down on the floor with one breast wedged under the rear wheel of the car. Ask a friend you don't know very well to slowly back the car up until your breast is sufficiently flattened and chilled. Turn over and have your friend drive over the other breast. (If you are electing thermal breast imaging, forget this exercise.) Exercise # 3) You are still in your garage: Get naked from the waist up – oh, I suppose you could put on a flimsy little pajama top if you want. Now just stand there and flap your arms and try to keep warm for at least ½ an hour. Try to find something to read, maybe the operating instructions on your husband's nail gun. Read this with great interest for a long time. Even try to memorize some of it. You never know, you tell yourself – it may become useful in the Apocalypse. (If you are electing thermal breast imaging, forget this exercise.)
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