aWhy isn’t breast thermography more readily available and widely used?
We asked the same question. The answer is somewhat political, but this may help explain: When thermography was first explored for breast imaging, it was viewed as competitive to mammograms. It was tested and evaluated to see if it was safer and more diagnostically accurate than mammography. These comparisons should not have been made, as you cannot compare tests of physiology and anatomy. In particular, when thermography was tested on younger women, thermographic abnormalities were detected many times, but mammograms did not detect any tumors. The results were considered “false positives”. The more patients of younger age screened with the so-called false positive, the more suspicion was placed on thermography. Years later, in re-call studies, a large percentage of these women had developed breast cancer or other breast disease, in the exact location of the abnormal “false-positive” thermogram, thus validating its early warning role. Thermography’s only “error” was that it was too accu
