October is breast cancer awareness month, and as a woman doctor of preventative healthcare, I am always encouraging my patients to stay ahead of their health. Get screenings done and not wait until their health has worsened before seeking HEALTH care.
Most people wait until they need sick care and expect or want a miracle. In the BLOG, Breast Cancer and the Importance of Early Detection, I talk about thermography scans as another option for breast cancer screening.
In this blog, I want to talk about why I go for thermal scans for cancer screenings and why we use them at Owl Chiropractic.
The primary measurement in thermography is the surface temperature of the skin. This temperature is controlled by the nervous system and influenced by blood flow, metabolic activity, and inflammation in the underlying tissues.
As doctors, we know Increased blood flow often results in elevated skin temperatures. Thermography can detect areas of increased vascular activity, which may indicate inflammation, infection, or other pathological changes.
At Owl Chiropractic, we pair biomechanical dysfunctions seen on a patient’s motion X-ray with physiological changes seen on thermography scans. This allows the doctors to have a snapshot of a patient's physiology and nervous system health at each visit. In our blog, Why Are Thermography Scans Essential To Us, we explain this topic in more depth.
When talking about cancer, what happens is cells divide and grow uncontrollably. These cells need more oxygen-rich blood for growth. As there is an increase in blood flow to the cells, the temperature around them also increases. At the same time, these malignant cells discharge nitric oxide into the bloodstream and cause impairment to the surrounding tissues. Therefore evaluating these temperature differences can identify areas of pathology.
In recent reviews of literature and more up-to-date research in the field of thermography, it has been stated that thermography allows the detection of malignant cells earlier than mammography. Personally, this makes sense to me because a physiologic change has to occur before a pathological change. Also, unless the tumor is big enough to be seen on a mammography, it could be missed. This is why I chose to go for thermal screening.
Currently, no screening method can predict the presence of a malignant tumor with 100 % accuracy,
However, new encouraging research is allowing for the further development of thermography. The more tools available to a patient, the better. This is why, in our office, I like having multiple tools to identify and find vertebral subluxations. The advancements in today's tech world and the use of AI have shown very promising in the world of healthcare; it is my hope that thermography research is part of that.
Citation:
Rakhunde MB, Gotarkar S, Choudhari SG. Thermography as a Breast Cancer Screening Technique: A Review Article. Cureus. 2022 Nov 8;14(11):e31251. doi: 10.7759/cureus.31251. PMID: 36505165; PMCID: PMC9731505.
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