Breast thermography and cancer risk prediction
- 1 January 1980
Abstract
Thermography makes a significant contribution to the evaluation of patients suspected of having breast cancer. The obviously abnormal thermogram carries with it a high risk of cancer. The results of patients with questionable or stage Th III thermograms were studied. From .apprx. 58,000 patients, most of whom had breast complaints, examined between Aug. 1965 and June 1977, the conditions of a group of 1245 women were diagnosed at initial examination as normal or benign disease by conventional means, including physical examination, mammography, ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration or biopsy, when indicated, but nevertheless categorized as stage Th III indicating a questionable thermal anomaly. Within 5 yr, more than a third of the group had histologically confirmed cancers. The more rapidly growing lesions with shorter doubling times usually show progressive thermographic abnormalities consistent with the increased metabolic heat production associated with such cancers. Thermography is useful not only as a predictor of risk factor for cancer, but also to assess the more rapidly growing neoplasms.This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: