Thermal Diagnosis - it's been around for centuries...
For several evenings recently, my wife and I watched the very fine historical documentary on President John Adams produced by HBO. One of the seven episodes included his daughter's fight with breast cancer. Mr. Adams had the famous Dr. Benjamin Rush examine her, and she told the doctor that she had a hot lump in her breast. In those days of no central heat, she had noted by herself that one breast was warmer than the other. Dr. Rush understood the gravity of the situation and performed a total breast removal with no anesthesia, alas to no avail. The president's daughter died later when the cancer returned.
So how does this apply to health and diagnosis in this modern world? In my experience with thermography, I sometimes include a standard manual breast examination after the thermography images are taken. (Doing a manual exam before the thermography might distort the image findings). These exams have shown me that the 2 to 4 degree Farenheit rise in breast temperature caused by an underlying cancer can easily be detected by a manual exam done properly. Like President Adam's daughter knew, the affected breast feels warmer than the other breast.
If you have been following the medical news recently, you might have heard that breast self-exams are said to be worthless for cancer detection. That may be true if detection of lumps is the only sign to watch out for, but my experience tells me that if a woman (or man) detects a warm, non-painful area of the breast under the proper conditions, cancer should be supected and further testing done. Any painful area is more likely to be infection than cancer, but infection can also become a large problem, so have any warm area checked out further by a professional practitioner.
To do this "thermal breast self-exam" (T-BSE), you must disrobe from the waist up for 15 minutes at a room temperature of 68 to 70 Farenheit. Humidity should be 60% or less. You may be standing, sitting, or lying down. Do not touch your breasts during this 15-minutes of time. After this "cool-down" period, gently check the suface temperature of each breast using the palm of ONE hand. Go from one breast to the other quickly, pressing gently to detect the temperature difference. Healthy breasts should have almost the same temperature from side to side. Use just one hand for this exam - attempting to detect a temperature difference by placing one hand on one breast and the other hand on the other breast will not work. Certainly if there is a painless lump associated with any area of warmth, your suspicion of cancer should be doubled.
Should you detect a lump or temperature difference in you breast, further diagnostic "workup" is recommended. A qualified Thermography Service can perform thermal imaging under controlled temperature conditions to confirm and quantify any thermal abnormalities, and advise you on to how to proceed. Or see your local physican or practitioner right away, but don't be surprised if they do not know about heat being associated with breast cancer. The diagnostic clues known back in the days of Dr. Rush have somehow been forgotten - until now.
in health,
From the desk of James S. Campbell, MD.- 29 July 2010
