September 17, 2004

A question came up this week on the relative values and dangers of mammograms, so I went looking for information about it and came up with some things that may surprise you as much as they did me. I had never liked the idea of having a part of my body smashed and flooded with radiation, but there didn't seem to be a better way to detect possible cancer growth, especially in the critical early stages. It turns out that the mammogram is woefully inaccurate, causes many thousands of women each year to have dangerous and unnecessary biopsies and surgeries, and has a false negative rate that is simply unacceptable.

The first thing that comes to mind, of course, is the question of what else we can do to detect breast cancer. With just a little effort and a Google search I found several alternative screening ideas that should be common knowledge! If we lived in a free country, without the massive coercive power of the government doing its best to discredit and prevent alternative health practices from being known to the people, cancer would not be the killer it is today.

Unfortunately, along with so many other preventable things, cancer is the "bread and butter" of hundreds of industries and, of course, a large segment of the medical establishment. Just as with the "war on drugs", where the government has every vested interest in seeing that it continues forever, there is no incentive for the government approved medical establishment to find real answers for the prevention and cure of disease. If most of it went away, an awful lot of people would be looking for another job.

Fortunately, you don't have to wait for the government or anyone else to see the error of their ways. YOU have the ultimate control over almost all of the factors that cause cancer, and you can get the kind of diagnostic screening you need if you are willing to work hard enough to find it and pay for it. Yes, it might cost you a bit if the insurance company won't cover it. It's up to you to decide what your life and health is worth. The purpose of this column is to give you a head start toward making that decision with information about the needs for prevention, the dangers of some current diagnostic procedures, and the potential of the alternatives.

For a good overview of mammography click here. This is the official Medical "party line", remember, and the "risks" described do not include any mention of potential damage to the breast tissue or rupture of a tumor which might rapidly spread the cancer throughout the bloodstream. They admit that the MRI (Magnetic resonance imaging) is superior for finding most breast cancer, but suggest it only for women at high risk. It is more expensive and therefore much harder to get insurance to pay for.

Mammogram false negatives are only a small part of the story. False positive readings of benign tumors and lumps, estimated at 1 in 10, cause unnecessary surgeries and a lot of anguish on the part of the women and their families. The "experts" can't even make up their minds about when and how often a mammogram should be taken, so it seems quite clear that an accurate and non-damaging alternative would be the best answer all around. Clearly, there is a lot of room for improvement, recognized by the industry itself.

There are a number of different types of mammogram tests, so it is important for you to ask questions and understand what is involved in the kind your doctor proposes to use for you. Several relatively new kinds are becoming available in larger cities and big hospitals, including a digital type scan of breast tissue, but it still involves x-rays and still involves mashing the breast tissue between the glass plates to produce the clearest images.

Some other methods of scanning for breast and other cancer is just starting to be recognized. Thermal scanning is, I believe, the most promising because it is extremely accurate and involves neither radiation or tissue damage. It has been used for decades in industry to find problems in all kinds of machines, and is commonly used to find problems in electronic equipment as well. There are only a few places that currently offer thermal scanning for breast cancer diagnosis, but that will change as people become aware of them and of the unnecessary dangers of mammograms. Chiropractors are using thermal scanning already for other things, and it is being used to diagnose and treat arthritis with very good results.

VALIDATION OF INFRARED IMAGING DETECTION DEMONSTRATED BY MRI AND PET IN ON-GOING STUDY WITH MICRO HEALTH SYSTEMS (Text found at the bottom of the page of many photographs of the conference.)

Micro Health Systems, Inc., Parkland Florida, is conducting an on-going study to add scientific credence to the efficacy of thermal breast analysis. Thousands of studies have been conducted over the years, demonstrating the ability of Infrared analysis in detecting pathology. To further demonstrate its efficacy, Micro Health Systems, Inc. is compiling data that shows the correlation of positive breast thermal studies to, MRI, PET, Ultrasound & Mammography.

Clinics and research centers using the MHS 5000 and MHS 7000 Real Time Infrared Imaging Systems are sharing data regarding their patient populations scanned with both thermal imaging systems. Breast scans are categorized according to risk indicators (patient History) and thermal indicators (TH 1 – TH 5) in an ongoing study that correlates thermal findings to anatomical studies.

Following a positive thermal reading, women are evaluated by MRI, PET, Ultrasound and mammography (least significant) to determine the presence of a physical mass correlating to the thermal markers. All structural studies have been conducted by independent scanning centers; however, patients are sharing the interpretations of their studies.

MRI, with and without contrast, has been consistent in the detection of structural changes related to abnormal thermal findings. A number of patients have had mammography exams either prior to or following the thermal scan, and mammography has not detected the structural change detected by MRI in 40% of these cases. Ultrasound has not correlated in 20% of the population that had this evaluation either prior to or following the thermal exam. (Emphasis added)

MRI with questionable contrast uptake noted, are then referred to P.E.T. to evaluate metabolic activity associated with the mass identified and to scan the entire body for additional metabolic cellular activity
.
Independent PET evaluations demonstrate a powerful correlation to thermal patterns demonstrated by MHS Infrared Thermal exams. Independent scanning centers continually report that PET patterns are consistent with thermography findings and somewhat less than significant with MRI findings. PET findings in conjunction with thermal imaging provide similar data in that we are viewing the cellular metabolic activity. Whereby MRI scans are based on anatomical or structural findings. The results, to date, are not only encouraging, but continue to uphold the population statistics demonstrated by historical studies done on thermal evaluation of breast health.

With this study we are confident the data will support the efficacy of the thermal analysis in early detection, in addition to demonstrating the ability of Infrared, MRI and PET to determine the presence of cancer without necessity of biopsy.

We do have alternatives already available. Many are still in the study or experimental stages as far as government approval and insurance coverage is concerned, but the only way they will join the mainstream is for enough people to become interested enough in them to use them. As with so many other things, we need to constantly push for the most effective and cost efficient medical care possible, and encourage health professionals to study and embrace better ways to do things. We should never settle for the status quo or second rate medicine. If we want innovation and progress, however, we can't expect government to guarantee that it is 100% safe or effective, and we can't expect anyone else to pay for it.

You should have some new information to consider now. Just remember the bottom line is that YOU must learn as much as you can about it and make the final decision for yourself. As for myself, I will never have another mammogram.

More good reading:

Real Medical Freedom

Next week: The Basics - Part 1 - Nutrition

Please send me your comments and questions too! Use the feedback form below. Thanks! Susan Callaway, RN

Other health information resources:

The Mayo Clinic has thousands of pages of information about asthma and almost every other health problem known to man. The information at this site is presented in language that most people should be able to understand. Bookmark this page and use it regularly to find reliable and timely information about any health issues that interests you. Other good resources are listed below.

MedlinePlus is owned and operated by the U.S. Government, so take things here with a grain of salt. Lots of good information here anyway. This is much more technical and is most useful to medical professionals or people who have done a lot of reading about the subject already.

National Library of Medicine. This is also owned and operated by the U.S. Government, but it contains a great deal of useful information on every medical topic imaginable. Unfortunately, most of the medical research in this country is done by government funding, at least in part, so there is not much available that is totally independent. That will only be possible when the free market can be restored and government reduced to its Constitutional limits.

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