Simply stated, cancer is a parasite. It is a mass of genetically malfunctioning cells with excessive incoordinate growth. Its growth is completely independent from all normal regulatory functions of the host and maintains law and order in its own terms.

Why the Breast? To keep things simple, breast cancers emerge due to a combination of genetics, carcinogens, immune responses, hormones, and tissue composition. The breasts are composed of lobes, lobules, ducts, glands, and a high concentration of blood vessels and fat cells. Many of these tissues in the breast have receptors for the hormone estrogen, which makes them a target for the hormone’s influence. Some of this is good and some bad. Of particular interest are the fat cells. Fat cells both produce and breakdown estrogen. The chemical breakdown reaction (aromatization) of estrogen produces carcinogenic (cancer causing) byproducts. As a result, the carcinogens effect the DNA of nearby cells which can cause them to mutate into cancers. Research has shown that some women’s breasts are more susceptible than others to the effects of estrogen and its byproducts.

How Does the Cancer Grow? Once a normal cell begins to mutate (pre-cancerous tissue), its DNA is altered to allow for the onset of uncoordinated growth. To sustain the rapid growth of these pre-cancerous (and cancerous) cells, a constant supply of nutrients are needed. In order to maintain this supply, the cells release chemicals into the surrounding area which keep existing blood vessels open, awaken dormant ones, and create new ones (neoangiogenesis). The rich vascular beds in the breast provide the conditions necessary for the growing tumor’s needs.

How Can We Detect this Growth at its Earliest Stages? The ideal early warning system would detect both the pre-cancerous changes occurring in the breast and the first cancer cell formations. Digital Infrared Imaging (DII or Breast Thermography) has the ability to detect the chemical and blood vessel changes in pre-cancerous as well as cancerous breast tissue. Consequently, DII can be the first indicator that a cancer may be forming or present; and in many cases from 8-10 years before it can be detected by any other method. The use of DII (Breast Thermography) as part of the frontline tests for early detection brings a great deal of good news for women.

Is Current Screening Providing Early Enough Detection?

The following chart shows the average growth rate of a breast cancer tumor:

Atypical pre-cancerous cells (thermography can warn at this stage)

90 days 2 cells (Cancer cells double in number on average every 90 days)

1 year 16 cells

2 years 256 cells

3 years 4,096 cells

4 years 65,536 cells

5 years 1,048,576 cells

6 years 16,777,216 cells

7 years 268,435,456 cells

8 years 4,294,967,296 cells (doubled 32 times)*

*Most cancers are detected by mammography at this point – when the diameter of the tumor is about 1cm (about the size if a dime) and contains over 4 billion cells.

So Why Should I Have a Thermogram?

If a significant change in breast cancer mortality is to be realized, we have to rethink what screening tests truly are. Are we currently providing "screening" or "detection"? A critical look at our current breast cancer screening strategy must be made. A change from sole dependence upon procedures that only provide detection of existing cancers to technologies that reflect the early cancerous process itself provides women with true screening. Thermography has this ability to act as an early warning system. Studies have shown that thermography has the ability to warn that this process is underway 8-10 years before any other test can detect it - even before the cells become cancerous. This, coupled with a possible role in breast cancer prevention, makes thermography one test that no woman should be without.