Thermography vs. Mammograms for Breast Health Screening

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Wellness Mama » Blog » Health » Thermography vs. Mammograms for Breast Health Screening

I’ve talked about vaginal health before because it’s an important but often overlooked topic in women’s health. Breast health is another area we simply can’t afford to ignore. Sadly, breast cancer continues to be a leading cause of death in women and breast cancer rates keep rising. Mammograms are the go-to diagnostic tool for detecting breast cancer currently, but is a technology called thermography a better choice? I wanted to find out.

What Is Thermography?

Thermography uses thermal imaging to detect existing or potential tumors. These images detect small variances in temperature, which may be a sign of tumors (or even places where a tumor may grow in the future). This is because there is more blood flow at the site of cancer cells, so a warmer part of the image may indicate cancer.

Typically a baseline image is created (around age 25 if possible) and future images are compared to the baseline image. Each person’s image is unique but should stay the same over time. If it doesn’t, it may be a sign of disease.

In this post, we will focus on the benefits and risks of thermal imaging or thermography as compared to mammograms.

The Case for (or Against) Routine Mammograms

Mammography has been the go-to diagnostic tool for breast cancer since the 1970s. Since then guidelines have changed and the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force now recommends mammograms only for women aged 50-74 every two years. They recommend screening on an individualized basis for women 40-49, “weighing the benefits and harms of screening every two years.” Younger women are not recommended to get mammograms.

Unfortunately, many women aren’t given the risks of mammograms and are under the impression that mammograms always save lives (which they certainly do in many cases). These new guidelines came about in response to new research that shows mammograms may be ineffective for certain groups (like younger women).

While this is a good start, women may not be told the following about mammograms:

  • They may not reduce deaths – A Cochrane review of randomized controlled trials of nearly 600,000 women found that though mammograms increased early diagnosis of breast cancer, they did not reduce the number of women who died from breast cancer. The review states: “For every 2000 women invited for screening throughout 10 years, one will avoid dying of breast cancer and 10 healthy women, who would not have been diagnosed if there had not been screening, will be treated unnecessarily.”
  • There are potential risks from radiation – Mammograms expose us to radiation. The amount of radiation isn’t a huge amount (less than many other x-rays) but could add up over time.
  • Radiation risk varies by individual – Women with a genetic mutation (germline mutations in a DNA-damage control pathway) may be at higher risk for radiation-induced cancer and should carefully consider whether a mammogram is worth the risk.
  • False positives are possible – As with almost any diagnostic tool, there are going to be false positives. One study found that there was an overdiagnosis rate of 24.4%. It also found that in younger women (below the screening age) the overdiagnosis rate rose to 48.3%.
  • False negatives are also possible – False negatives are another concern. About 1 in 5 women will get a false negative. False negatives are more likely to occur in breasts that are dense (younger women have dense breast tissue, which is one reason routine mammograms for younger women are not recommended). Mammograms aren’t a 100% accurate diagnostic tool but women with a clean mammogram may ignore symptoms thinking there’s no way they have cancer.

Researchers in this 2014 JAMA review on the benefits and risks of mammograms highlight the intensely personal and individualized nature of breast cancer screening decisions:

Each woman may feel differently about the possibility of having a false-positive result or being diagnosed with and treated for cancer that might not have caused problems. It is important for you to consider what these experiences might mean for you. It is also important to consider how you might feel if you decide not to undergo screening mammography and you are later diagnosed with breast cancer, even if the likelihood that mammography would have made a difference is small.

As always, a personal discussion with your doctor is the best place to start.

Benefits of Routine Thermography

Here are some reasons to consider thermography vs mammogram for breast imaging.

Note: Thermography must be done by a knowledgeable technician in a facility that is backed by qualified, board-certified physicians. A technician that doesn’t know how to read the imaging won’t be helpful.

  • Less invasive – Thermography doesn’t require any compression, which is more comfortable for the patient.
  • May detect “pre-cancer” areas – Since thermography uses heat to look for disease, it can potentially find a place in the tissue that would turn into cancer (but isn’t cancer at the time of screening). This information could be very helpful in preventing cancer. The treatment would then be focused on diet and lifestyle changes that could help reverse the disease.
  • Good for young, dense breasts – Since mammograms aren’t very useful for young women, thermography could be a better tool for young women at risk (a close member of their family had breast cancer, for example).
  • Detects cells in armpit area – Thermography also can detect cancer cells in the armpit area which mammograms are notoriously bad at catching. In fact, thermography can be used for the whole body (though research focuses on breast cancer detection).
  • Safety – Thermography is safe and can be used during pregnancy and nursing.

Thermography is most accurate when baseline images are started early (around age 25).

Drawbacks of Routine Thermography

While thermography may be a helpful tool, it does have some drawbacks too.

  • Expense – Most insurance companies won’t cover thermography since it’s not part of the standard of care. It can also be difficult to find a thermography center in some areas (most hospitals don’t use them).
  • Sensitivity and specificity questionsA small study found that thermography had a 97 percent sensitivity rate (it caught 97 percent of cancers) but only a specificity rate of 44 percent (meaning it over diagnosed 66 percent of women without cancer). The researchers thought that the bad specificity rate could have been because the study was on women who already had suspicious mammograms or ultrasounds.

Thermography as a Piece of the Whole

Thermography is an alternative (or addition) to mammograms that may work for some women. While thermography seems to have promise as a diagnostic tool, it’s not recommended as an alternative to mammograms especially when diagnosing a tumor that was found in a manual exam.

However, thermography done in conjunction with other diagnostic tests will give the best picture. Your doctor may use thermography and ultrasound first, for example, and then a mammogram if something looks suspicious. Talk with your practitioner to see what options are available.

Thermography vs. Mammogram: Final Thoughts

When it comes to breast cancer, early detection is great, but prevention is even better! Whether mammograms, thermography, or some other technology is best, it’s still only a tool and can’t give 100% accurate information. It’s great to do our homework and be aware of the benefits and risk of the technologies available, but we must continue at the same time to make breast health a priority through regular healthcare, frequent breast self-examination, and a healthy diet and lifestyle.

This article was medically reviewed by Dr. Shani Muhammad, MD, board certified in family medicine and has been practicing for over ten years. As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor or work with a doctor at SteadyMD.

Have you used thermography? What was your experience?

Katie Wells Avatar

About Katie Wells

Katie Wells, CTNC, MCHC, Founder of Wellness Mama and Co-founder of Wellnesse, has a background in research, journalism, and nutrition. As a mom of six, she turned to research and took health into her own hands to find answers to her health problems. WellnessMama.com is the culmination of her thousands of hours of research and all posts are medically reviewed and verified by the Wellness Mama research team. Katie is also the author of the bestselling books The Wellness Mama Cookbook and The Wellness Mama 5-Step Lifestyle Detox.

Comments

11 responses to “Thermography vs. Mammograms for Breast Health Screening”

  1. Wanda Avatar

    I’ve had a few mammograms, have dense breasts and basically contribute very little data, yet doctors still push them. I’m leery due to the industry and they have an expensive single tasking machine they’re probably still paying for, or insurance companies are giving them bonuses like they do for vaccinations. Despite the cost I’ve skipped straight to ultrasound and plan to look at thermography and mri.

    I’ve grown skeptical over the years especially after having a large ruptured disc that my doctor recommended physical therapy and time because 15 years ago they were cutting up everyone and realized that the back healed in the same amount of time if they did nothing. I ended up finding pt helped only a little, and traction machine caused my foot to go numb and all the natural solutions actually did the healing: garlic supplements for pain and circulation worked better than ibuprofin and tylonol, jogging/yoga to increase circulation, 30 days of inversion table use healed my numb foot, and 50% raw food diet consisting of 5 pound of carrots a week healed the years of residual symptoms I had in a matter of a couple months. Its amazing how conditioned we’ve become to only listen to these “experts” that only know those tools.

  2. Meghan Avatar

    Just want to re-emphasize a point you made in your article that was SUPER important. Mammograms are not always effective on younger breast tissue. However, young women do get breast cancer – and in some cases it’s not related to hormones (triple-negative breast cancer). Sometimes there’s no family history or BRCA 1 or 2 mutation, either. For all of these reasons, it’s important for young women to know their own bodies by performing regular self-exams. When something feels different from your previous exam, speak up to a doctor! The only way to know for sure if it’s cancer after detecting a change is through a biopsy. To share my own example: I am 32 and after months of advocating for myself I was finally correctly diagnosed with stage 3B triple negative breast cancer.

  3. M. J. Avatar

    Is ultrasound so much more expensive than mammogram that insurance won’t permit ultrasound as an option. After an iffy mammo, one is sent for diagnostic mammo (lots more smashing and radiation, only then to ultrasound. Why not put ultrasound first? Any studies on its efficacy in finding tumors?

    1. Susan Rowe Avatar
      Susan Rowe

      I am going today for an ultrasound. Self pay is only $250. I am a breast cancer survivor (2016-2017). I now do thermograms and got suckered into a mammogram yesterday, because my naturopath was concerned about something she saw on my right breast (left breast had cancer previously). Mammogram showed “normal”, but I don’t trust it, so I am going rogue and getting the ultrasound at a “stand alone” (not attached to the hospital). From now on, this is what I will do. I do thermograms 2x a year (full body) and if there are questionable findings I will do the ultrasound. They have to pay for those mammogram machines…hence the demonizing of thermography and the militant push for everyone to have mammograms.

      1. Penelope Avatar

        Hi, I wondered where you can get thermograms that are full body? I would be interested. Breast cancer runs rampant in my mom’s side of the family, hence I do get mammo’s as well as an mri once a year. However, instead of a mammogram, I’d rather opt for a thermography.
        Thanks for any info 🙂

    2. Margaret Hitchcock Avatar
      Margaret Hitchcock

      I had a mammogram that showed micro calcifications. They wanted to do a diagnostic Mammogram and a sonogram. When I asked to only do the sonogram, they told me that a sonogram was not needed only the diagnostic Mammogram. They refused to do the sonogram, even when I told them about a study done by CentraState Health and Princeton Radiology that showed that “Ultrasound can identify potentially cancerous masses associated with breast calcifications, including masses that can’t be seen on mammogram.” And it gave 3 advantages to doing this. Here is the link to the article:https://www.centrastate.com/blog/breast-ultrasound-may-ease-breast-cancer-testing/#:~:text=Ultrasound%20can%20identify%20potentially%20cancerous,This%20approach%20provides%20several%20advantages. I wish I knew where I could get the breast sonogram.

  4. Jenna Avatar

    In a different, but similar vein, I recently used thermography to determine whether my dental implant is toxic to my body, and potentially causing other issues I’m experiencing. Unfortunately it is, but I’m thankful that thermography was available to confirm this so I can have the implant removed by a natural/holistic dentist. It also showed that I have cavitations, likely related to wisdom teeth removal.

  5. CFafard Avatar
    CFafard

    I’ve used thermography screening for the last 2 years. Both times nothing suspicious was found. I’m very prone to breast cysts and when I used to get yearly mammograms, I’d get a lot of false positives, which was a hassle to have to endure further testing and biopsies. In Feb. of this year the FDA released a warning regarding thermography not being reliable, so now I’m reconsidering mammography in conjunction with thermography.

  6. Menka Avatar

    I usually love the content however as a mammographer many people dont fully understand it that includes many physicians as well. To use a study that uses data from mammograms taken in the 80s doesn’t make sense. Breast imaging has changed so much even in the last 5 years. By the time a thermogram can detect a cancer I’m sure a 3d image could have done it years before.
    Also you are not just diagnosed and treated for breast cancer based on the mammogram. Theres a biopsy to determine if it is cancer first. There may be more false positives for people receiving a biopsy but that is totally different from falsely being treated for cancer. My suggestion would be to speak to an actual radiologist that specializes in breast imaging over talking to your regular physician if you can.

    1. kathleen kahl Avatar
      kathleen kahl

      I did mammography years ago. I now do MRI. MRI is much more sensitive and non invasive but unfortunately not used routinely because of cost. I actually did thermography back when I was in xray school in the mid 80’s. I worked for a Radiologist that was ahead of the curve on breast screening. I personally switched to thermography about 10 years ago. I stoped with the annual mammograms due to the radiation and compression which is not healthy for breast tissue. Thermography is also read by a physician that is trained to read them. They will never replace Mammography but they are a great tool to check breast heath and detect changes in tissue long before a tumor is developed enough for a mammo or physical exam to pick up. It is a shame that we cannot use all of the best diagnostic tools available due to financial issues and the fact that health care is a for profit industry.

      1. Heather Gordy Avatar
        Heather Gordy

        My husband fussed at me for being on my phone & I told him I was researching mammograms versus thermography. He told me in his big voice to get the mammogram when I told him I didn’t want one. Personally, I know he wouldn’t want his pecs confined! It hurts! They gave me a mammogram at 35 after I had just had my daughter. Talk about hurt!

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