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A device developed for Cold War spying might help women detect breast cancer four to six years before it appears on a mammogram.

Shelley Gilliland, a certified clinical thermographer for Radiant Health Imaging, uses digital infrared thermal imaging to detect and monitor a number of diseases and physical injuries, including breast cancer. Medical digital infrared thermal imaging is a non-invasive diagnostic tool that pictures and analyzes changes in the skin’s surface temperature without the use of radiation. While X-rays, ultrasound, and mammography show the structure of the body, thermal imaging shows the physiological activity, such as active inflammation and increased blood supply found in many illnesses.

Gilliland said more than 50 percent of her business is from women seeking an earlier form of detection than a mammogram can offer. A scanning device  think an advanced digital camera  is used to convert infrared imaging from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are shown in color on a monitor. The visual image maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. The spectrum of colors indicates an increase or decrease in the amount of heat being emitted from the body surface. Gilliland said since there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the normal body, subtle abnormal temperature differences are easily identified, and because infrared thermal imaging is highly sensitive to variations in the vascular, muscular, neural, and skeletal systems, it can contribute invaluable information to a diagnosis made by a physician. The images are then checked by a group of more than 30 doctors for abnormal vascular activity. Like fingerprints, Gilliland said without a pathological change or injury, the images should stay the same.

In order for a mammogram to detect a breast cancer tumor, Gilliland said the tumor is between six and eight years old and has over a billion cells. However, a thermogram can detect the heat given off by cancer cells multiplying at two years, or 256 cells, before it is even a lump. Plus a thermogram can be used to help doctors monitor how well radiation treatment is working on a specific tumor, which could mean the difference between a partial lumpectomy and a mastectomy. Gilliland became interested in the technology after meeting Radiant Health Imaging founder Pam Ryerse. Gilliland has been a nurse for more than 30 years and said overtime she has developed a more holistic and preventative approach, and thermography has become a mission for her. While insurance doesn’t cover thermography, Gilliland is quick to point out that mammograms for women younger than 40 years of age are not generally covered either.

Source: Daily Nonpareil Online

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