Thermography Rochester

Read this CBC news article correlating longterm night shift work with an increase in breast cancer: Night shift workers face increased breast cancer risk

The new study is based on the work patterns of women from diverse occupations. The original study, conducted amongst nurses, considers how work schedules relate to cancer. It suggests that light suppresses the body’s release of melatonin. Melatonin, a hormone, is believed to help prevent cancer. The study took into consideration other factors attributed to increased cancer rates, which you can read about in this article.

Interestingly, the conclusion that  is not new – you’ll read that, following a 2007 decision by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, 37 nurses in Denmark were compensated after it was determined they got breast cancer after working nights.

Two other points I took from this article:

• The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considers shift work as a probable carcinogen.
• Researcher, Prof. Kristan Aronson’s goal: “Our ultimate aim is to prevent breast cancer all together.”

Hamilton, Ontario has the provinces worst cancer survival rates, according to one report published by the Cancer Quality Council of Ontario. If you think about it, Hamilton, Ontario is just a short hop across the lake from us. What’s different there than here in Rochester, NY? Not sure I can say. Read this interesting article, Hamilton’s cancer survival rates among worst in Ontario, report says, published by the CBC. The article backs up its claim with facts and numbers.

Spoiler alert: this article promotes prevention as the key to lowering cancer rates and boosting longterm survival rates. Granted, some readers write to complain that the environment has some share of the blame for increases in cancer rates, and the article doesn’t focus on that aspect. Changing our industry-polluted environment is something we may, or may not, influence change over – and I would imagine those same environmental issues play out here. But the basic concepts of the article? We have control over our lifestyle choices: alcohol consumption, eating enough fruits and vegetables, inactivity, obesity, and smoking. These contribute to higher incidences of cancers and cancer survivors not passing the five-year survival rate. Are Hamiltonians so different than Rochesterians when it comes to lifestyle choices?

Along the same lines as the articles Dr. Mercola has written about the increased radiation women are exposed to with 3D mammography, here’s an article by Dr. Hamm, summarizing the findings of the 2011 Cochrane Report, offering his suggestions for breast cancer prevention strategies, and recommending breast thermography as a means of

You can listen to an informative YouTube presentation discussing what risks you run when you go press or squeeze a tumor. He discusses a variety of screening methods, including thermography, and feels women should have the right to choose between them. Each modality offers its own advantages. He stresses the importance of preventing cancer, as opposed to waiting until it’s established before we address it. We have the means to intervene early and be proactive. But it’s important to understand the many options available today.

Mammography: Are There Pros, or is It Just a Con? Read the article, and watch the video, which does a very good job of describing how thermography works.

Mammography: Pro or just a Con? Check out the information here. Then you decide!

Medpage Today published an article on February 26 citing evidence that metastatic breast cancer is on the rise among younger women, an “age group that already has the worst prognosis, no recommended routine screening practice, the least health insurance, and the most potential years of life.” Why is this disturbing trend found specifically amongst 25-39 year old women and not older women? Read the article here to learn more: Advanced Breast Cancer Now More Common in Younger Women.

The writer notes that this trend appears among all races and ethnicities in urban and non-urban areas alike and lists possible influencing factors. The conclusion: something needs to be done to find these women at an earlier stage of cancer.

Here is yet another reason to get the word out to young women to learn more about thermography and add it to their health and wellness program.

Make thermography part of your breast health maintenance plan.Here are two timely articles by Dr. Mercola that address questions I’m often asked by women. “What can you tell me about tomosynthesis, or 3D mammography? Does it use as much radiation as regular mammography? Is it better than regular mammography?”

Not only does Dr. Mercola answer these questions in plain language, he supports his claims with a list of current sources and references, something I appreciate in any serious research.

Both articles also share a list of practical breast cancer prevention strategies you can start doing now! Read Dr. Mercola’s articles here:

• February 19, 2013: New 3D Mammography Significantly Increases Radiation Exposure, and Your Risk of Radiation-Induced Cancer
• March 2, 2013: Can You Cut Your Breast Cancer Risk by Skipping Mammograms?

Share this information with the women in your life. Along with diet and lifestyle changes, make thermography part of your breast health maintenance plan.

Here’s a useful posting out of Australia that describes several issues I’m often asked about. It touches on how thermography differs from mammography. It references several studies, including a 1992 Canadian study that showed an increase in breast cancer mortality in women aged 40-50, who had annual mammograms, suggesting that the compression involved may spread the diseased cells or cause cancerous tumors. It also discusses overly invasive surgeries and procedures on masses that are best monitored over time, the use of ultrasound as a less invasive screening tool, and describes a blood test, Anti-Malignan Antibody Screen (AMAS), you may want to discuss with your doctor. You’ll find links to other information, as well as a short YouTube video that poses an interesting question … check it out here: Mammography exposes you to cancer: try thermography – it’s safer

This is nice to see – RIT exploring the use of thermography as part of an imaging approach to better assess the Psoriasis Area Severity Index score, as well as predict lesions associated with psoriasis.

Read about it here: Your skin problems, captured by thermal imaging cameras

“Saving women’s lives through early breast cancer detection”

Handel Reynolds, a breast radiologist at Piedmont Hospital in Atlanta, is the author of a soon-to-be-published book, The Big Squeeze: A Social and Political History of the Controversial Mammogram. Bloomberg.com has just published three excerpts:

• In Mammogram Debate, Politics Trounces Science
• When a Mammogram Is Riskier Than Cancer
• Shaky Foundations for the New Mammogram Economy

The book to be published Aug. 7 by Cornell University Press, promises to be good reading. If you’ve talked to me and asked, “Why don’t we know about thermography? Why doesn’t my doctor know about it?” you’ve probably heard my answer, “Follow the money.” Not to say that your doctor doesn’t mean well, or that the mammography industry didn’t develop out of the best of intentions. But concerns are being published in mainstream media that mammograms don’t do all they should, and in fact, contribute more to the huge, money-making industry of screening for, diagnosing, and treating breast cancer than to catching it – early or otherwise.

Read these articles, and then consider the benefits thermography provides: by showing breast cancer’s earliest signs, you can take preventive action without disturbing abnormal cells that may not develop into cancer if left alone, and you can avoid the negative consequences of overdiagnosis – messing with something that is best left untouched for the time being.

You should also read Dr. Mercola’s article discussing Handel Reynold’s book in more depth: In Mammogram Debate, Politics Trounces Science

“Saving women’s lives through early breast cancer detection”

Hello again. I want to share a link to a January publication in The Guardian, a UK publication.  The article discusses a recently published book, Mammography screening: truth, lies, and controversy based on great research and data collected over many years. This article briefly describes some of the conclusions…

Breast cancer screening cannot be justified, says researcher

Consider that women in the UK are called for breast screening every three years from the age of 50, and implications of over screening are raised in this research. In North America, mammography is typically recommended more frequently than once in three years.  Thermography offers a non-invasive means of screening that serves a more logical initial step toward assessing a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

An article published in the Ottawa Citizen on November 15 describes a lawsuit against a mammography clinic, which is going before the British Columbia Supreme Court. A woman claims that trauma to her breasts caused during mammogram she received in 2008 accelerated her breast cancer. Read the article for yourself here: Mammography injury sparks civil lawsuit

I’ll post the outcome.

Well, it’s 2012 and there is no outcome – at least nothing I’ve found published online or off. I wonder if the case was settled out of court, or thrown out of court. All very quiet…