(*Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging)
The benefits of DITI do vary between age and risk groups.
With the pre mammogram age group (under 50) the benefits of screening to detect any findings
or changes that justify additional testing or closer monitoring are simple. With any positive DITI
findings in this younger age group, any mammogram and ultrasound sensitivity and specificity will
be increased with the objective DITI findings targeting a dysfunction and location and providing
decision making information in women that would not have otherwise been tested.
It takes years for most cancers to develop to the stage that they can be detected with
mammogram or ultrasound (dense enough for location and biopsy) so DITI is ideally placed as a
screening tool to identify changes over time in the 'early' development stages, before there is
more advanced pathology that can be detected with other tests.
The major benefit in this group is in detecting early changes that precede malignant pathology
that will become diagnosable at some stage.
Early detection is aimed at prevention and if early changes are detected then we have an
opportunity to intervene and change the outcome.
The earlier an abnormality is detected the better the treatment options will be, resulting in a better
outcome.
Prevention may include treatment of inflammation, fibrocystic disease, lymph congestion,
estrogen dominance and more specific conditions like angiogenesis.
DITI does not provide any of the same findings or information that mammogram or ultrasound
provides, it is a different type of test. DITI shows information relating to vascular activity,
inflammation, lymphatic activity, hormonal dysfunction and other 'functional' abnormalities.
There are no contraindications for DITI, it is totally non-invasive, no radiation of any type, no
contact with the body so it can ‘do no harm’.
Mammogram and ultrasound shows 'structure', tissue densities can be evaluated, lumps can be
measured, calcifications located and opinions given regarding pathology before biopsy ..... none
of which DITI can provide.
There is no comparison or competition between mammogram and DITI. They are two different
tests providing different results !
The results are reported by medical doctors who are certified thermologists and experienced in
reading thermograms, the reading doctor takes into consideration all history and symptoms and
the results of other tests.
In patients of mammographic age (generally over 50), post menopause or when the density of
breast tissue has reduced sufficiently to make mammography more affective, DITI not only
provides the benefit of early detection of functional change but can also increase the detection
rates of other tests by contributing additional information about functional (physiological)
abnormality and also the location of suspicious (positive) thermal findings that may be outside the
range of other tests due to location, size of breast, implant, or other limiting factors .
DITI as a screening test in all age groups is designed to establish a baseline (the patients normal
thermal fingerprint) for ongoing comparative analysis (normally annual) to detect any
physiological change that justifies additional testing (which could be physician exam,
mammogram, ultrasound, MRI, blood work, hormone testing or a number of other interventions).
The changes that DITI can detect include, inflammatory pathology (inflammatory carcinoma /
inflammatory breast disease) Infection, Lymph dysfunction (lymph congestion, lymph node
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pathology) Vascular changes (development of new and abnormal blood vessels known as
'angiogenesis') and also any suspicious activity outside the range or scope of other tests (outside
the boarder of the breast, in the sternum or axilla) so again, there is no comparison or competition
between different tests.
DITI cannot detect specific pathology like a biopsy, it cannot detect tumors or micro-calcifications.
DITI cannot ‘see’ structure.
DITI does have the potential to create anxiety for a patient (as does mammogram) with equivocal
results or results that cannot be confirmed or positively diagnosed but both tests can minimize
unnecessary anxiety with better informed consent, education and realistic expectation for the test.
The best possible plan is to use every appropriate test adjunctively to get the highest detection
rates without generating additional or unnecessary invasive testing.
It would be unfortunate for a patient to forgo a necessary mammogram that was justified, and any
decision should be made with consultation between the patient and her doctors based on
individual history, symptoms and test results.
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