Thermography is a clinical imaging procedure that uses a digital infrared camera to detect and monitor a number of diseases and physical injuries. Thermal patterns indicate areas of reduced or increased activity, signifying changes of inflammatory activity or abnormal blood flow which can indicate disease or dysfunction. By visualizing thermal abnormalities present in the body, such as lymphatic congestion, pain, metabolic processes, and physiological (or functional) changes over time, it can help to detect these abnormalities at their earliest stages.

Yes. Thermal images are taken using a digital thermal infrared camera without contact to the body, making screenings safe, comfortable, painless, and free of harmful radiation.

No. Both a mammogram and a thermogram are breast screenings, but they are two completely different types of tests looking for different things. A mammogram is looking for lumps, tumors, and masses in the breast tissue (structural), while thermography looks for inflammation and increased vascular activity (functional). Neither test is a replacement for or alternative to each other.

Thermography detects abnormal activity and inflammation in the body by analyzing thermal patterns. This screening can alert you to changes in your body that may indicate early-stage breast disease or other abnormal processes that may be developing, often before symptoms arise or a problem is visible on structural tests. 

A thermography scan may help detect:

• Breast disease 
• Vascular inflammation 
• Thyroid dysfunction
• Muscle inflammation
• Fibromyalgia and autoimmune issues
• Dental issues and TMJ
• Unexplained pain
• Lymphatic congestion
• Digestive disorders and more

Not only does thermography detect signs of disease and dysfunction, but it can also be used as a regularly scheduled screening to show the positive impact of healthy changes used to address existing conditions.

Medical thermography has undergone extensive research since the late 1950s. In 1982, the FDA cleared breast thermography as an adjunctive breast cancer screening procedure. (Adjunctive meaning an additional procedure used for increasing the efficacy or safety of the primary procedure, such as a mammogram, for facilitating its performance.)

Thermography is very beneficial for women with dense breast tissue. Mammography can be an imperfect screening tool particularly for women with dense breasts. Breast cancer and dense tissue both may appear white on a mammogram, so the sensitivity is greatly reduced. The good news is that dense breast tissue poses no problem for thermography as it is looking at the functional, or physiological, activity of the breast tissue as opposed to the breast structure.

You can schedule a thermography screening at ERLY Wellness locations in Georgia and Alabama with more than 50 offices in the Greater Atlanta area. Visit our Contact Us page to find an office near you.

All thermography scans are interpreted by medical doctors specifically trained in thermographic interpretation and certified by a thermography medical board based in the United States. The doctors go through a similar training process as a radiologist does but as a thermologist. 

Some of the doctors are also radiologists. All are post-graduate medical doctors who have done an additional five years of specialty studies in a field (so just being an MD is not enough). The doctors complete 500 additional hours in thermography studies, reviewed and tested by a board for approval. This typically takes one year to complete. Then, one out of every 20 reports is peer-reviewed.

The interpreting doctors recommend a three-month follow-up for every woman who has this screening, regardless of whether the results are “normal” or at risk. The reason for this is to assure that there have been no suspicious changes in the three-month time period as it generally takes 90-days for a blood supply or cancer cells to double. 

For most women, the follow-up confirms stability, but there are a few that have had a suspicious change even though they had a normal or low-risk result for their initial scan. So the three-month follow-up establishes your personal baseline that all future annual scans will be compared to. We always schedule the follow-up in accordance with the doctor’s recommendation.

Thermography will not show any cancers from a structural or pathological perspective. It will show positive physiological findings in 83% of malignancy (specificity), leaving 17% of cancers that present as thermographically silent due to the type of pathology, long-term cancer which the body has accommodated, or encapsulation and age of the patient. 

The utility for including thermography as an adjunctive screening test in previously confirmed malignancy is for the establishment of a baseline and detection of any physiological change over time, correlation with other tests, and the monitoring of response to treatment. Breast thermography screening is an adjunctive test to mammography, ultrasound, and MRI and is a specialized physiological test designed to detect angiogenesis, hyperthermia from nitric oxide, estrogen dominance, lymph abnormality, and inflammatory processes including inflammatory breast disease, all of which cannot be detected with structural tests. 

Breast thermography has the ability to detect the first signs that cancer may be forming up to 10 years before any other procedure can detect it. An abnormal thermogram is 10 times more significant as a future risk indicator for breast cancer than a first-order family history of the disease. A persistent abnormal thermogram carries with it a 22x higher risk of future breast cancer. In 7 out of 10 cases, infrared imaging will detect signs of cancer before it is seen on a mammogram. 

Clinical trials have also shown that infrared imaging significantly augments the long-term survival rates of its recipients by as much as 61%. And when used as part of a multimodal approach (clinical examination, mammography, and infrared imaging), 95% of all early-stage cancers will be detected. Ongoing research into the thermal characteristics of breast pathologies will continue to investigate the relationships between angiogenesis, chemical mediators, and the neoplastic process. 

Breast thermography has undergone extensive research since the late 1950s. The numbers of participants in many studies are very large: 10K, 37K, 60K, and 85K. Some of these studies have followed patients for up to 12 years. Please note that no breast screening can diagnose cancer. Only a biopsy provides an actual diagnosis.

If your results show abnormal activity, a repeat thermography in three or six months may be suggested to monitor for change. The interpreting doctor may also recommend additional testing such as an ultrasound or other structural test.