Daily Loaf

So what’s this about mammograms? The iconic breast screening exam has been called into question by a stellar panel from Harvard, Stanford and other such institutions who were tasked by the federal government to determine the efficacy and safety of the test.

So for decades now, the ladies have been lining up to have “the girls” squished, pinched, squeezed and radiated, in the hope that such treatment will result in early detection and improved survival. Instead, this new information is asserting that mammograms do not improve survival and are contributing to rising costs of healthcare by identifying many lumps that aren’t cancer or will never become cancer. So younger women, in the 40-49 year age group, are told they no longer need to have any mammos at all, and are even exhorted to not examine their own breasts for fear of finding something. Suddenly the fear and expense generated by “false positives” are outweighing the fear and expense of the real thing. Confusion reigns!

It is indeed true that 10-15% of mammograms yield false positives, another 10-15% yield false negatives, that is, a cancer that is present is not detected. Most cancers are found by the patient herself. But the news has not mentioned the possible damage done by mammograms to the DNA of breast tissue. Radiation exposure results in cumulative damage, that is, repeated exposure to x-rays cause tiny mutations in genetic information. How much damage does it take to create a cancer cell? No one really knows, but it probably varies from one person to another. Is it possible that some women are getting cancer from the mammograms?

So what’s a woman to do? Now she’s told not to examine herself and not to get a mammogram, but what should she do to find out if she might have breast cancer in the early stages, when it is most curable?

Ultrasound is a non-invasive diagnostic technique that has been used for decades as a back-up test to the mammogram. If a lump is found, the architecture of it (solid, cystic, fibrous, mixed) can be determined with an ultrasound. This might be a good test to do more often.

Another answer has been around for a number of years. It has been largely ignored in this country. It’s a non-invasive test called digital thermographic imaging, or thermography, for short. This is a simple test something like taking a photograph, only in the infra-red part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Because this shows temperature variation, the new blood vessels that form around a developing malignancy light up in red, yellow or white, and the normal tissue or benign tumors (like fibrocystic disease) show up in green or blue. There are many blood vessels that normally occur beneath the surface in the breast, so yellow or red is not necessarily a sign of cancer. The images are read by doctors trained to interpret them, just as x-rays are read by radiologists.

The initial (baseline) exam is two tests, three months apart. After that it’s one test a year, just like the old rules about mammograms. Each test takes five pictures, front, left side, right side and diagonals on both sides. No radiation and no touch at all is applied.

The science behind thermography is quite impressive. It comes from Europe and the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) where thermography has been used since the 1970s. Studies on hundreds of thousands of women have proven thermography to be a valuable and reliable tool for early detection. In fact, thermography can pick up tumors ten years before they would be seen on a mammogram.

Perhaps now with the questions raised about the best use of mammograms, we will see thermography used more. It is a good but underused test. Women need the assurance they are not developing this terrible disease, and thermography can fill the newly created void.

No matter what screening test you use, the best strategy is prevention – it’s light years ahead of early detection! Choose a healthy diet, exercise, and minimize toxic exposures (and that probably includes mammograms).

Carol L. Roberts, MD is the Founder and Medical Director of Wellness Works, Inc., a holistic medical practice in Brandon and Sarasota, Florida since 1994. She has a show on WMNF 88.5FM alternate Mondays from 1-2PM EST, and is the author of the soon-to-be-released book, Good Medicine: A Return to Common Sense. Find her at www.wellnessworks.us. Thermography is offered at her practice

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