Thermography of Houston specializes in breast and full body imaging, providing a unique, functional view of your body's current physiological state for those with an interest in proactive approaches to help.
Thermography Overview
Medical DITI (Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging), also known as thermography, is a brilliantly simple and completely harmless clinical imaging technology that takes a picture of the body's thermal-infrared patterns. It is unique in that it sees the function, or physiology, occurring in real-time. Other imaging technologies such as MRI or X-ray detect anatomical changes and abnormalities, but miss conditions like active inflammation, referred pain, infection, or angiogenesis.
Thermography is popularly used for breast imaging and was FDA cleared in 1982 for adjunctive breast cancer screening. This technology should be used in combination with routine mammograms to provide a fuller picture, with both structural views and functional views of the breasts.
So, how does checking the skin's temperature give any information on what is happening
inside the body?
Deep within the body, there are abundant neural pathways of the sympathetic nervous system. Pathology within the body (disease and internal dysfunction) affects the surrounding sympathetic neural fibers, which then relay the message to the skin surface where the local temperature changes. A normal, healthy body typically shows thermal symmetry on the body and relatively remains the same over a lifetime. When thermal asymmetries are seen and thermal patterns change, an experienced interpreting doctor can determine what kind of indications are seen. All findings must be reviewed adjunctively with other imaging tests.
Thermography checks for indications of:
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Stress and dysfunction in organs (i.e. thyroid, spleen, kidneys, etc.)
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Inflammation
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Immune dysregulation (chronic fatigue, autoimmune, etc.)
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Low-grade or acute infection
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Blood sugar issues/metabolic dysfunction
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Circulatory and nerve function issues
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Lymphatic congestion
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Suspicious activity in the breasts, warranting further evaluation
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Fibrocystic activity
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Possible hormone imbalance
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Joint inflammation or dysfunction
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Raynaud's or CRPS
All without the use of radiation, contrast dyes,
compression of tissue, or any contact with the body.
All thermography services include:
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Imaging session with certified clinical thermographer (technician)
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Interpretation by medical doctors who have been board-certified in thermology
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Copy of the report and images
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Complimentary Report Review consult to discuss your report & consideration of next steps
Why is breast thermography such a great choice?
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Safe, easy, pain-free and radiation-free
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FDA cleared for adjunctive breast screening to be used with standard imaging procedures (mammograms and ultrasounds, as recommended by your doctor)
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No contact or compression of breast tissue
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Entire chest can be imaged, including underarms
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Safely images breasts with implants
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No limitation for varying breast sizes, small or large
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Available for women who would like additional breast imaging, such as younger women or women with concerns due to family history, BRCA gene mutations, and other risk factors
For women new to breast thermography, we recommend our Complete Breast Evaluation service,
which includes your initial breast scan and required breast baseline scan three months later.
Read below for more information.
How to get started with breast thermography:
Every woman has a unique thermal pattern in the breast region, it is as unique as a fingerprint. Because thermal imaging looks for changes in your unique patterns over time, it is essential that every woman completes an initial breast scan AND a comparison breast scan in 3 months. This helps to ensure that the breast tissue is not changing suspiciously, it is stable and the reading thermologist can officially confirm your pattern. Once this is completed, the thermologist can recommend routine annual scans. This is absolutely necessary for the proper use of medical thermography for breast imaging purposes.
We recommend women start utilizing thermography for their advantage around age 30:
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It is very helpful to establish a baseline before experiencing a lump or area of concern.
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Breast cancer can take several years to develop and we want to observe the earliest changes.
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When it does occur in younger women, breast cancer is faster-growing and more aggressive.
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Traditional imaging (i.e. mammography) is not recommended until age 40 and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force actually recommends the average woman wait until age 50 to begin biennial (every two years) mammogram screenings. Although breast cancer is less prevalent in women younger than 50, we all know that it happens and we have seen this first-hand with women in their 30's with no family history.
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85% of women with breast cancer DO NOT have family history of breast cancer.
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Awareness of your overall breast health (possible inflammation, hormone imbalance, lymph congestion) can inspire you to make healthy choices now and reduce your risk.
Get started now with our Complete Breast Evaluation.