If you are a woman, your number one risk of cancer is breast cancer and traditionally one of the most preventive screening methods is Mammography. According to one research of 50 different cancer patients, 46 cases were detected using mammograms and 44 cases were detected using thermograms. The ones that were missed using mammograms, thermograms were able to identify and the cancer cases that were missed using thermograms, mammograms could detect. Thus, many people prefer to use both of the methods in order to catch all the cases. (Dr. Troy Spearl, Synapse: Center for Health and Healing)
In this paper, we examine the differences between mammography and thermography and have a look at all the pros and cons of both methods.
Mammography is breast cancer screening using low-dose x-rays. Medical organizations suggest having mammograms every year beginning at age 40. Before women can experience any signs of cancer, Mammography can diagnose it. This method can also help women to find breast diseases such as a lump, pain or nipple discharge. now, let’s have a look at the cons of Mammography:
The cons of Mammograms:
- Stressful situation that patient experiences doing mammography
- Over-diagnose of Mammograms: a lot of people go through cancer treatments even when they did not need to
- Late identification: it would be better if we could identify breast cancer much earlier
- More exposure to unnecessary radiation
- More invasive
So, even though this method can serve as a screen to show breast cancer, it is not the best method to use.
When comparing the pros and cons of Mammography and Thermography, the actual cons of Thermography are only the cases that are missed and if you use ultra-sound method combined with Thermography you can check both sides (anatomical and physiological) of an image. But when it comes to the pros of Thermography, it can really check for the things are not visible in normal mammograms and also it can identify some of the certain types of inflammatory cancers even before they show up. Here, we will take a look at the pros of Thermography:
The pros of Thermography:
- It is non-invasive and painless
- It is Non-radiative
- Capturing the entire body: detecting the heat and radiation coming from the body
- Getting a better sense of inflammation coming from teeth ( a hidden source of breast tissue abnormalities)
- Measuring the temperature changes
- Early detection up to 10 years before the cancer turns into a full-blown size
Thermography can be particularly a very useful alternative tool for screening the breast cancer annually, because then you can compare the current examination with previous tests and if there is any difference then it is even a more powerful predictor.
