It seems that it is more and more common to hear about women suffering from breast cancer, and it seems to be happening to younger and younger women. It used to be that breast cancer was almost never seen in women under 40 (which is one of the reasons that mammograms aren't recommended for younger women), but that sadly has changed in recent years. There has been a lot of breast cancer research, and while we have yet to find a cure, important information is being learned about what causes breast cancer and what lifestyle choices contribute to cancer development, along with how changes can be made to aid treatment and the prevention of breast cancer as well. Beyond living a lifestyle that is actively preventative of cancer, another primary tool that we have on our side is the ability to monitor the internal health of breast tissue. The earlier that unhealthy changes in breast tissue are caught, the more options a person has, and the better their chance for effective treatment. Besides mammography, we have another detection method that works to detect changes the earliest- thermography. Thermography can detect changes earlier, however it does not eliminate the need for the mammogram, because thermography cannot give a conclusive diagnosis, mammography is needed to verify any areas of concern before your physician is confident enough to make a diagnosis, especially one of breast cancer. This helps prevent false positives, and gives your doctors comprehensive information to make the correct diagnosis and treatment plan.

Because breast thermography can detect changes so early, it is important to maintain perspective in one's expectations. With thermography your doctor is able to tell areas where blood flow has been diverted, possibly towards a growth, but that might be the extent of the development information. In the very early stages, no other method of detection would be able to detect these early stages of blood flow diversion that happen before there is an actual growth or tumor that can be examined or tested via such technologies as mammography or through a physical/manual examination. So, let's say that you visit a thermography center, first you will get your initial screening that will be used as a comparison in future screenings. Then at a later exam there are changes in breast physiology or tissue that was not there during your previous thermography exam. What then? Well, first the changes would be noted and monitored closely by your physician. Since there are, after all, quite a few possibilities as to what those changes could be (fibrous cysts, for example, are a common and non health-threatening condition), and sometimes only time can tell what those early changes could develop in to, and at this point mammography would not detect any changes. This does, however, create the opportunity to discuss lifestyle changes with your health care practitioner, because in some cases lifestyle changes can prevent areas of concern from developing into a real health concern. For example, smoking increases the risk of breast cancer, as do a number of other unhealthy habits, and if there are signs of change in body tissues, ceasing unhealthy behaviors is absolutely an ideal move to make. Talk to your doctor about what specific changes you should make in your life. Besides the obvious changes like smoking, changing your diet in certain ways can help improve your overall health, and any possible breast health issues.

Over time, continued monitoring should, and will be done annually at your thermography center to monitor any changes that may occur. If those changes progress to a point where further diagnosis was needed, then other modalities could be involved. In the meantime, thermography is as safe a detection method (beyond manual examination) that there is available and will be an essential part of one's health care routine.