Doctors & Research

What do Doctors & Research have to say about thermography?

DOCTORS SPEAK

“Every woman should include breast thermography as part of their regular breast heath care. I have recommended the use of this technology extensively over the years in my newsletter. Thermography has the unique ability to “map” the individual thermal fingerprint of a woman’s breasts. Any change in this map over the course of months and years can signal an early indication of possible tumors or other abnormalities. In fact, studies have shown that an abnormal infrared image is the single most important indicator of high risk for developing breast cancer.

Dr. William Amalu is a leader in the field of thermography and is the founder and director of the Pacific Chiropractic and Research Center in Redwood City, CA. His center provides top quality screening for women and uses the most sophisticated state-of-the-art thermographic equipment. I know Dr. Amalu personally and highly recommend that women consider using the services of his center if they want to take advantage of the benefits of this lifesaving procedure.”

Susan M. Lark, M.D.

Distinguished Author and Leading Expert in Women’s Health

“Infrared imaging of the breast should be an integral part of any breast cancer screening program due to its value as an independent risk factor for breast cancer and its value as a prognostic indicator.”

Jonathan Head, Ph.D.

Tumor Cell Biologist and Pioneer in Breast Cancer Vaccines; Director of Research - EEH Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Center; Associate Professor of Biochemistry - Tulane University

“Women need to know that breast thermography is a promising and safe technology that is a welcome addition to helping women create breast health.”

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Noted Author and Leading Expert in Women’s Health

“Breast thermography is an excellent adjunctive arrow in the quiver of tools for breast screening. Whereas structural screening looks for static anatomical abnormalities, thermography reveals physiological changes in the breast allowing for earlier intervention in the detection of premalignant and malignant processes. Additionally, breast thermography allows for proactive rather than just reactive measures in the fight against breast cancer. However, it is not intended to replace structural screening, but rather is an extremely valuable addition to armamentarium.”

Scott T. Miles, M.D., F.A.C.O.G., C.T.T.

Fellow - American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology

“An abnormal breast thermogram is the highest known risk marker for the presence of or future development of breast cancer. As such, breast thermography should be a part of every woman's regular breast health care. Dr. Amalu provides an invaluable service in making this lifesaving technology available to the women in his community.”

William Hobbins, M.D., F.A.C.S.

Fellow - American College of Surgeons; Women's Breast Health Center

“My patients are overjoyed to find out about how breast thermography can help them maintain their breast health. Not only can the test pick up abnormalities long before they manifest via mammography, but it can also detect patterns of estrogen dominance, a possible precursor to breast cancer, which we can then work to change by balancing a woman’s hormone profile naturally.

And it’s so simple and painless. My own experience of having a thermogram at Dr. Amalu’s imaging center was very comfortable and took about 30 minutes. Multiple images from different angles were taken of my breasts and digitally processed by a sophisticated computerized system. I had had a recent breast ultrasound, wherein they could barely find the small superficial lump I had discovered. It was reassuring to add thermography to my other tests for a more comprehensive examination.

I feel that is it important for every woman to have regular breast thermograms. Every new patient is informed about breast thermography and I provide them with a brochure that explains the procedure at the Pacific Chiropractic and Research Center. I feel confident in recommending Dr. Amalu’s thermography services to all of my patients.”

Carol Knight, M.D.

Private Practice - Women's Health

“Two years ago I researched breast thermography for an article in my newsletter and I was impressed with what I found. Finally, there was a sensitive test to support the information from mammograms. In addition, it could also detect potential problems at a very early stage.

For years, I’ve been looking for a test to offer my patients who refuse mammograms. Some are concerned about cumulative radiation and complications from compression, and others have personal reasons for refusing this test. Yet, to do nothing is to put their heads in the sand, and this doesn’t save lives.

With all this information in hand, I decided to find out first hand what this technology was all about. I contacted Dr. Amalu and he spent some time going over the research and background of breast thermography and provided me with a tour of his facility. I also decided to have Dr. Amalu perform a breast thermogram on me. I was pleasantly surprised with the comfort and ease of the examination.

I found in my research, and personally, that thermography can help a woman take a possible pre-cancerous condition and turn it around. It supports mammography and provides additional information. Prevention is the gold standard of health care. In my opinion, breast thermography should be part of every woman’s yearly exam to help prevent breast cancer, and for early detection.

In my opinion, Dr. Amalu is providing a lifesaving service in his center. I will continue to have regular thermograms and intend to keep writing about it in my newsletter until there are centers throughout the country.”

Nan Kathryn Fuchs, Ph.D

Editor, Women’s Health Letter

“Infrared imaging, based more on process than structural changes, and requiring neither contact, compression, radiation nor venous access, provides pertinent and practical complimentary information to both clinical examination and mammography. Quality controlled abnormal infrared images heighten our index of suspicion in cases where clinical or mammographic findings are equivocal or nonspecific and signal the need for further investigation rather than observation. With the addition of infrared imaging, our sensitivity of image detection has increased from 83% to 93%.”

John Keyserlingk, M.D., Ph.D.

Oncological SurgeonVille Marie Breast and Oncology Center Department of Oncology - St. Mary's Hospital, Montreal, Quebec

RESEARCH SPEAKS

Review of Breast Thermography

William C. Amalu, DC, DABCT, DIACT, FIACT

(This is an exerpt from the full article found here)

Over 30 years of research compiling over 800 studies in the index-medicus exist.

What follows is a pertinent sample review of the research concerning the clinical application of infrared imaging (thermography) as a risk assessment tool. All the citations are taken from the index-medicus peer-reviewed research literature or medical textbooks. The authors are either PhD's with their doctorate in a representative field, or physicians primarily in the specialties of oncology, radiology, gynecology, and internal medicine.

In 1982, the FDA approved breast thermography as an adjunctive breast cancer screening procedure.

Breast thermography has undergone extensive research since the late 1950's.
Over 800 peer-reviewed studies on breast thermography exist in the index-medicus literature.
In this database, well over 300,000 women have been included as study participants.
The numbers of participants in many studies are very large -- 10K, 37K, 60K, 85K …
Some of these studies have followed patients up to 12 years.
Strict standardized interpretation protocols have been established for over 25 years.
Breast thermography has an average sensitivity and specificity of 90%.
An abnormal thermogram is 10 times more significant as a future risk indicator for breast cancer than a first order family history of the disease.
A persistent abnormal thermogram caries with it a 22x higher risk of future breast cancer.
An abnormal infrared image is the single most important marker of high risk for developing breast cancer.
Research has shown that breast thermography significantly augments the long-term survival rates of its recipients.
When used as part of a multimodal approach (clinical examination + mammography + thermography) 95% of early stage cancers will be detected.