Breast thermography measures infrared radiation (heat), which is constantly radiating (emitting) away from the surface of the human skin.

Skin, as an organ, breathes, exchanges gases with the environment, cools us as well as keeps us warm by letting heat out or keeping it in by controlling the amount of circulation, or blood flow, in the skin. This automatic regulation is done without conscious thought and is controlled by the autonomic nervous system via sympathetic. The whole process is called thermoregulation.

The procedure is based on the principle that chemical and blood vessel activity in both pre-cancerous tissue and the area surrounding developing breast cancer is almost always higher than in the normal breast. Since pre-cancerous and cancerous masses are highly metabolic tissues, they need abundant nutrients to maintain their growth. To do this they increase circulation to their cells by sending out chemicals to keep existing blood vessels open, recruit dormant vessels, and create new ones (neo-angiogenesis). This process increases the regional surface temperatures of the breast.

Abnormal theological patterns of the breast demonstrate abnormal areas of heat. This alerts the clinician that something might be wrong with the physiology of the breast, and it could be an infection, inflammatory process, trauma, or cancer.

Breast thermography uses no painful breast compression, no radiation and is non-invasive. It is an ideal tool for risk assessment not only for women over 40, but for younger women as well. In our clinic, we have found breast abnormalities in women as young as 18 utilizing thermal imaging equipment. To deny the efficacy of thermal imaging of the breast as an adjunctive assessment in the overall management of the patient is a grave error.

The procedure is both comfortable and safe using no radiation or compression. By carefully examining changes in the temperature and blood vessels of the breasts, signs of breast abnormalities may be detected years before a more serious problem develops. This provides for the earliest possible warning signal. Because of breast thermography's extreme sensitivity, these temperature variations and vascular changes may be among the earliest signs of breast disease and/or a pre-cancerous state of the breast.

Breast thermography has been researched for over 30 years, and over 800 peer-reviewed breast thermography studies exist in the index-medicus. In this data base, well over 250,000 women have been included as study participants. Some of these studies have followed patients up to 12 years. Breast thermography has an average sensitivity and specificity of 90%.