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Medical Infrared Thermal Imaging
 by Tirza Derflinger, The Thermogram Center and
Dr. Robert Kane, International Academy of Clinical Thermology
Medical thermal imaging (MII) is becoming a common screening modality in the areas of neuromusculoskeletal injury, cancer, and circulatory pathology. As a physiological imaging modality that assesses body function, it can indicate developing disease states – and breast cancer – earlier than anatomical examinations. It is highly accurate and 100% safe, involving no radiation or contact.
MII is helpful for chronic pain, disease processes, and monitoring treatment effectiveness on physiology. MII can also help to identify sources of pain, particularly those involving the neuromuscular and circulatory systems. And because every organ reflects itself on the skin surface, organ stress/compromise can be monitored. If disease processes are present, a thermal imager may detect them before symptoms become apparent, enabling early intervention and proactive treatment.
The FDA approved the technology for adjunctive breast cancer screening in 1982, and it has been recognized as a viable diagnostic tool since 1987 by the AMA council on Scientific Affairs, the ACA Council on Diagnostic Imaging and the Congress of Neuro-Surgeons since 1988, and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation since 1990. Research indicates that it is extremely effective in diagnosing most types of back, neck, and limb pain, especially latent or intractable types of pain syndromes.
There are four ways in which MII services help physicians and their breast cancer patients:
- offers a breast screening option for women reluctant to radiation methods
- enables very early breast cancer detection – even with negative mammogram
- provides compelling physiological data useful in determining the necessity for biopsy following suspicious/inconclusive mammogram
- monitors estrogen activity in the breasts
  The breast imaging procedure is based on the principle that chemical and blood vessel activity in both pre-cancerous tissue and the area surrounding a developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in the normal breast. Since pre-cancerous and cancerous masses are highly metabolic tissues, they need an abundant supply of nutrients to maintain their growth. To obtain these nutrients they increase circulation to their cells by secreting chemicals to keep existing blood vessels open, recruit dormant vessels, and create new ones (neoangiogenesis). This process results in an increase in regional surface temperatures of the breast.
State-of-the-art applications use ultra-sensitive thermal imaging cameras and sophisticated computers to detect, analyze, and produce high-resolution diagnostic thermal images of these temperature and vascular changes.
This 35 year-old patient (above) had a normal mammogram the month prior to examination with a thermal imager. Armed with a diagnostic report that indicated severely abnormal findings in the right breast, the patient requested a biopsy and discovered Stage I cancer with a 1cm lump, a second smaller lump, and lymph node involvement. Chemotherapy was initiated. (Note two abnormal thermal image findings consistent with cancer: vascular signs of neoangiogenesis, shown in grayscale, and abnormally-high temperatures, shown in color.)
This patient was scheduled for biopsy of the left outer breast, but an exam with a thermal imager showed no excess heat or vascular markings. As a result, additional anatomical exams were ordered. Their findings supported the thermal findings and the patient was spared the biopsy  procedure. Note the excess of heat and vascular markings of the right breast, circled. These findings are abnormal and are being monitored closely by thermal imaging.
“… 80% of biopsies yield benign results…” Source: Radiology Today, v3no7
By carefully examining aspects of temperature and blood vessels of the breasts in thermal images, signs of possible cancer or pre-cancerous cell growth may be detected up to 10 years prior to being discovered using any other procedure. This provides the earliest detection of cancer possible. Because of thermal imaging’s extreme sensitivity, these temperature variations and vascular changes may be among the earliest signs of breast cancer and/or a pre-cancerous state of the breast.
Thermal imaging studies of the breast have been researched for over 30 years, and over 800 peer-reviewed studies exist in the index-medicus. Over 3,000 articles are accessible through MedLine. Over 300,000 women have been included as study participants, with many studies including 37,000 to 118,000 women. Some of these studies have followed patients up to 12 years.
Studies show that:
- Thermal imaging of the breasts has an average sensitivity and specificity of 90%.
- An abnormal infrared image is the single most important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer, 8 times more significant than a first order family history of the disease.
- A persistent abnormal thermogram caries with it a 22x higher risk of future breast cancer.
- When added to a woman's regular breast health checkups, a 61% increased survival rate has been realized.
- Finally, when used as part of a multimodal approach (clinical examination + mammography + infrared imaging) 95% of early stage cancers will be detected.
In the absence of other positive tests, an abnormal picture obtained with a thermal imager gives a woman early warning and the need for intervention, or change in lifestyle, diet, or other breast health factors. With close monitoring and serial thermal imaging, a woman can monitor breast health and has a much better chance of detecting cancer at its earliest stage and preventing invasive tumor growth.
Since thermal imagers do not have the ability to pinpoint specific tumor locations, they cannot replace mammography and physical examination. Because 1 in 8 women will get breast cancer, we must use every means possible to detect cancers when there is the greatest chance for survival. The addition of thermal imaging to the frontline of early breast cancer detection brings a great deal of good news for women.
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