New frontiers in breast cancer detection: utilizing some of the latest diagnostic tools may increase breast cancer detection, patient comfort and safety

American Fitness, Sept-Oct, 2003

The quest to improve breast cancer detection technology and offer patient friendly alternatives to standard mammograms has inspired a great amount of research. Thermography, the Aurora Breast MRI Scanner and the General Electric Senographe[R] 2000D Full Field Digital mammography system with R2 ImageChecker[R] Computer-Aided Detection (CAD) are a few of the latest results.

Thermography

Two of the most exciting, yet overlooked, diagnostic procedures of this century are Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) and Contact Regulation Thermography (CRT), otherwise simply termed thermography. Dr. Ali Meschi is a board-certified naturopathic physician at the forefront of this technique. "Thermography is a non-invasive, objective [and] non-radiative tool that uses [body heat] to diagnose the causes of a host of health conditions," he explains. Because it uses no radiation, it is completely safe. Utilizing high speed computers and very accurate thermal imaging cameras, body heat is processed, recorded and translated by a computer. The image map it produces can then be analyzed on screen, printed or sent via e-mail.

During the thermography procedure 112 electrodes are placed on the patient's body to acquire temperature readings. Two different readings are taken. First, the patient sits in a fairly cool, but not uncomfortable, room for 10 minutes. Then, the first temperature readings of the face/head, teeth and neck are taken by gently touching the body part's surface with the probe. The patient is then asked to remove her clothes from the waist up to create "cold stress" at about 68 degrees Farenheit and complete the first reading of the 112 data points. Then, the patient stands in her underwear another 10 minutes. After this period, the second reading of the data points is taken and the test is concluded.

Doctors use the image map acquired from these readings to determine if abnormal hot or cold areas are present. These hot and cold areas can relate to a number of conditions for which the FDA, Bureau of Medical Devices, has approved the thermography procedure. These include screening for breast cancer, extra-cranial vessel disease (head and neck vessels), neuro-musculo-skeletal disorders and vascular disease of the lower extremities. In the past decade, a number of advancements have brought thermal imaging to the diagnosis forefront.

Nonetheless, the utilization of thermography as a breast cancer screening tool has been a very controversial topic within the health care community for the past decade. However, the technology has gained scientific acceptance, been approved for screening purposes and is clearly a powerful tool in early breast cancer detection. "The concept is quite simple," Meschi reveals. "Thermography measures the heat from one's body. Metastatic cancers create heat, which can be imaged by digital infrared imaging. This is due to the metabolic activity of the tumor tissue as compared with the temperature of tissue adjacent to the tumor and in the opposite breast. By comparing the breast in question with the normal breast, which acts as the patient's own control, abnormal heat signatures associated with the metabolism of the tumor can be easily detected." Cancer tumors produce a chemical which promotes the development of blood vessels supplying the area where the tumor resides. Also, normal blood vessels under the control of the sympathetic nervous system are essentially paralyzed, causing an increase in blood vessel size. The blood increase in the region simply means more heat.

Since "thermal imaging has demonstrated in numerous studies to be capable of measuring these heat signatures years before conventional technologies can see a mass, the procedure uses no radiation, compression of breast tissue and is totally safe, thermography or DITI/CRT provides a safe early warning detection system," Meschi adds. A monthly self-exam, annual physician exam, yearly thermal imaging and mammography, when indicated, increase the effectiveness of early detection to greater than 95 percent.

The Aurora Breast MRI Scanner

Until now, the gold standard for breast cancer detection has been mammography. While mammograms remain a very effective diagnostic tool, they are not the final word in breast cancer diagnosis. Now there is Aurora, an MRI scanner specifically designed for breast imaging, available at only a handful of centers in the country.

During a breast MRI scan, a woman receives an intravenous injection with a contrast agent--a chemical solution that acts as a "stain" to illuminate areas of tissue with many blood vessels. "Since most tumors have a higher blood supply than normal tissue and grow abnormally quick, the contrast agent will usually make them easier to identify," says Dr. Mark Novick, radiologist and medical director of Manhattan East Breast Imaging. "While the MRI does not replace standard mammograms and ultrasounds, it will augment those imaging techniques."

In addition, the Aurora Breast MRI Scanner rates high on patients' physical and mental comfort. First, the patient's head is outside of the machine and second, the Aurora Breast MRI Scanner is the only one of its kind to place the technologist in the room with the patient. The patient lies on her stomach and goes in feet first, which eliminates the tunnel effect. Hundreds of images are taken during the MRI exam, analyzed by computer and physician, then compared to the patient's mammograms and ultrasounds.