What is Thermography?

Clinical thermography is a graphic rendering of temperature patterns for the purpose of analysis.  In other words, it is a heat map resembling the image of the body.  These infrared images detect altered heat patterns emanating from the surface of the body as a result of disturbed neurochemical feedback signals. This allows us to look at how the body is functioning.  Thus, thermography provides one of the most important imaging procedures available to warn of symptoms that one or more problems may be developing. 

Thermographic images are used in the clinical analysis of a variety of issues in acute, chronic, and preventative healthcare.  The medical applications are in the areas of:

·      Vascular disorders (circulatory)

·      Endocrine/Metabolic disorders (thyroid, glucose, diabetes)

·      Neurological disorders

·      Musculoskeletal disorders (sprains, strains, joints, nerves)

·      Breast health

Full body infrared imaging has been able to help patients with chronic pain who have had treatment with little to no relief or who may have been treated for the wrong condition.  Infrared imaging has helped patients get to the cause of their condition so that proper treatment can be rendered.

Problems such as infection, injuries and inflammation emit greater amounts of heat than nearby areas.  Whereas nerve impingements and circulation obstructions can be seen as cool or cold areas.  This data is captured by a trained thermographer (technician) and then carefully analyzed by a thermologist (doctor) who writes a report of the findings.  The information revealed can be lifesaving. 

In preventative healthcare, especially breast health, thermography can recognize issues far earlier than other modalities because it is monitoring biological changes in a person not just structural change. Research has determined the key to breast cancer survival rests upon its earliest possible detection. Additionally, other modalities have a high rate of overdiagnosis and false positives.  There is a very small likelihood of that with thermography because the heat in the body is notating the changes physiologically.  It is thermography’s unique ability to track the disparities in temperature and blood vessel changes produced by pathological breast tissue that allows for extremely early detection.  A thermogram shows markers suggesting a pre-cancerous state of the breast or the presence of an early tumor that is not yet large enough to be detected by physical examination, mammography, or other types of structural imaging.  Therefore, an abnormal image is the single most important marker of high risk of developing breast cancer.  It’s been said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Thermographic imaging is completely safe and painless.  There is no compression, no radiation, no contact, no intravenous access.