Breast Cancer: Know Your Risk Before Detection

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which means you'll see the ubiquitous pink ribbons, hear about the importance of annual mammographies and monthly self-exams, and perhaps participate in a quest for a cure. 

Sadly, every day women are diagnosed with breast cancer and as a result, are thrust into aggressive and invasive treatment. According to the American Cancer Society, more than 14,000 women in New York are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, and over a quarter million women in America were diagnosed in 2009.  But, while we wait for a cure, it is important to focus our attention on prevention, rather than relying solely on early detection.

Thankfully, there are many cutting-edge physicians who focus on prevention. One such physician, Dr. Moche Dekel — a certified and experienced expert on breast thermal imaging and a board certified OB-GYN in Oceanside — uses breast thermography as the cornerstone of his early risk assessment.  

Dekel explains that, "Breast thermography is a clinical diagnostic procedure which uses highly specialized infrared cameras to measure the heat coming from the breast which detects changes long before the presence of a tumor." 

Once a woman's breast cancer risk is determined, he implements a prevention protocol to reduce it. According to Dekel, thermography has been used since the early 70s, and the FDA approved the modality in 1982 for breast cancer detection and risk assessment as an adjunct to mammography.

Dekel noted that there is a profound difference between the two modalities. Mammography, like MRIs and sonography, is an anatomical study. It may take up to ten years for a tumor to grow to a sufficient size that it can be detected by either a mammogram or physical examination. In contrast, thermography is a physiological study, which shows small, unilateral temperature increases, caused by an increased blood supply to cancer cells. 

He added that physiological changes can precede anatomical mammographic detection by seven to ten years, thereby giving preventive measures a chance at stopping  cancer development. Wouldn't you prefer plugging up the holes in your boat as opposed to calling in the Coast Guard to rescue your sinking ship? Dekel said he strongly believes that medicine shouldn't do harm and in contrast to a mammography, pointed out that a thermography does not subject women to radiation, compression or risk.

Furthermore, Dekel said that one of the major limitations of mammography is its inability to diagnose cancer in women with dense breast tissue. I don't know about you, but somehow a normal mammography screening never really put me at ease. Like many women, my dense breast tissue renders a mammography almost useless unless it finds a growth large enough to be detected. This explains why so many women are diagnosed with breast cancer following years of normal findings. 

Conversely, from my thermography with Dekel, I was grateful to learn my breast cancer risk and the proactive steps required to increase my breast health. The visual impact of this procedure was empowering since it enabled me to see areas of concern. Breast thermography makes so much sense that I wonder why it isn't a more universally utilized modality.