The benefit of breast thermography is that it offers the opportunity of earlier detection of breast disease than has been possible through breast self examination, doctor examination or mammography alone.

Thermography can detect the subtle physiologic changes that accompany breast pathology, whether it is cancer, fibrocystic disease, an infection or a vascular disease. Your doctor can then plan accordingly and lay out a careful program to further
diagnose and /or MONITOR you during and after any treatment.

Normal

Good thermal symmetry with no suspicious vascular patterns or significant thermal findings.

Fibrocystic Changes

The very significant vascular activity in the left breast justified clinical correlation and close monitoring which returned an opinion of fibrocystic changes taking place.

These changes can be monitored thermographically at regular intervals until a stable baseline is established and is reliable enough for annual comparison.

Early Stage Malignant Tumor

This is the specific area of a small DCIS. We can see the vascular feed and the discreet area of hypothermia that is displacing the surrounding hyperthermia.

Thermography is a painless, non invasive, state of the art clinical test without any exposure to radiation and is used as part of an early detection program which gives women of all ages the opportunity to increase their chances of detecting
breast disease at an early stage. It is particularly useful for women under 50 where mammography is less effective.

Thermography’s role in breast cancer and other breast disorders is to help in early detection and monitoring of abnormal physiology and the establishment of risk factors for the development or existence of cancer. When used with other procedures the best possible evaluation of breast health is made.

This test is designed to improve chances for detecting fast-growing, active tumors in the intervals between mammographic screenings or when mammography is not indicated by screening guidelines for women under 50 years of age.

All patients thermograms (breast images) are kept on record and form a baseline for all future routine evaluations.

This patient’s thermograms have remained stable for two years. These patterns are like a thermal fingerprint which will only change if pathology develops.

Baseline	3 Month Follow-up
First Annual	Second Annual

With the new ultra-sensitive, high resolution digital infrared cameras available today a technology that has been developing over the past 20 years is now becoming more accessible.

Thermography as a physiologic test, demonstrates heat patterns that are strongly indicative of breast abnormality, the test can detect subtle changes in breast temperature that indicate a variety of breast diseases and abnormalities and once abnormal heat patterns are detected in the breast, follow-up procedures including mammography are necessary to rule out or properly diagnose cancer and a host of other breast diseases such as fibrocystic syndrome, Pagets disease, etc.

Canadian researchers recently found that infrared imaging of breast cancers could detect minute temperature variations related to blood flow and demonstrate abnormal patterns
associated with the progression of tumors. These images or thermograms of the breast were positive for 83% of breast cancers compared to 61% for clinical breast examination alone and 84% for mammography.

By performing thermography years before conventional mammography, a selected patient population at risk can be monitored more carefully, and then by accurately utilize mammography or ultrasound as soon as is possible to detect the actual lesion – (once it has grown large enough and dense enough to be seen on mammographic film), can increase the patients treatment options and ultimately improve the outcome.

It is in this role that thermography provides its most practical benefit to the general public and to the medical profession. It is certainly an adjunct to the appropriate usage of mammography and not a competitor. In fact, thermography has the ability to identify patients at the highest risk and actually increase the effective usage of mammographic imaging procedures.

Until such time as a cure has been found for this terrible disease, progress must be made in the fields of early detection and risk evaluation coupled with sound clinical decision making.

Thermography, with its non-radiation, non-contact and low-cost basis has been clearly demonstrated to be a valuable and safe early risk marker of breast pathology, and an excellent case management tool for the ongoing monitoring and  treatment of breast disease when used under carefully controlled clinical protocols.

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 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. 

Peter Leando PhD. DSc. DAc..

Fellow, Royal Society of Medicine.

Fellow, American College of Clinical Thermology.

2030 West First St., Suite E

Fort Myers. FL. 33901

Office: 1-239-337-3631

Fax: 1-239-337-3632

Thermographic screening at airports and any other locations where the public congregate or travel is targeting individuals who are already symptomatic and likely to be infectious, (coughing, sneezing and the production of mucus causing the fastest spread).

The highest risk for the geographic spread of infection is through travel and ’seeding’. Thermographically screening travelers has a multi level benefit.

1. Sensitive screening to detect abnormal physiology (hot or cold) will detect a high % of abnormal (which can then be individually evaluated and further tested if necessary)  This group will fall into the symptomatic category who will be best detected with a ‘mass’ screening approach (rapid movement through airports etc).

2. Sensitive and targeted screening to detect sub-clinical individuals who may not exhibit symptoms but will show abnormalities days before symptoms evolve.

This will be high risk groups or individuals, traveling from infected areas. The ‘targeted’ protocol will include the controlled testing of each individual (a single thermal image) which will have a greater specificity. The individual will be anterior to the camera, any spectacles or head covering removed and the head and neck will be imaged in a stable environment. (instead of just passing by the IR camera)  This group will fall into the asymptomatic category who will be best detected by individual screening checkpoints.

3. Establishing routine fever screening during outbreaks will deter individuals from traveling if they know or suspect that they have any symptoms whatsoever.

This group has the greatest potential to limit the spread through compliance with WHO and other advisory body recommendations (not to travel if you have been exposed to anyone infected or have any symptoms yourself).  ‘Nobody wants to be stopped and quarantined’.    

Conclusion:

Fever Screening stations will not prevent the spread of disease 100% but are an integral part of the effort to limit and contain the outbreak and reduce the number of deaths.  

As concern continues to mount about the spread of the swine flu globally, airport authorities are responding by using digital thermal imaging technology to scan passengers. Thermal imaging can detect elevated body temperature, one of the signs of the virus N1H1 (swine flu).

“Medical thermal imaging at airports and any other locations where the public congregate targets individuals who are already symptomatic and likely to be infectious,” says Peter Leando, Ph.D., Managing Director of Meditherm. Meditherm’s thermal imaging system is one of the only digital thermal imaging scanners designed specifically for the human body giving the airport authorities the accuracy that they are looking for to identify infected passengers travelling from country to country. The company’s  medical  thermal imaging systems are in use at airports in Aruba, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kuwait, Malaysia, New Zealand, Oman, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

The highest risk for the geographic spread of infection is through travel and “seeding”.  Thermal imaging of travelers has several benefits:

• Sensitive screening to detect abnormal physiology (hot or cold) will have a  high percentage of accuracy in detecting abnormal temperatures, which then leads to further testing of an individual in order to confirm symptoms or rule out clinical suspicion.  This group will generally already be symptomatic and are best detected with a mass screening approach including rapid movement through airports.

• Sensitive but targeted screening can detect individuals who may not exhibit symptoms but will show abnormalities days before symptoms evolve. This will include high risk groups of individuals, traveling from infected areas.

• Establishing routine fever screening during outbreaks will deter individuals from traveling if they know or suspect that they have any symptoms whatsoever. This group has the greatest potential to limit the spread by complying with the World Health Organization and other advisory body recommendations not to travel if you have been exposed to anyone infected or have any symptoms yourself.     

While fever screening stations will not prevent the spread completely, they are an integral part of the effort to limit the outbreak and reduce the number of deaths, says Dr. Leando.  

In recent days, more orders have been placed for Meditherm’s medical thermal imaging system from customers wanting to screen not only in airports but in large corporations, manufacturing plants and even public entertainment fascilities in the UK, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, St Martin, USA, Puerto Rico and Argentina, with enquiries also coming from several other countries, including Mexico.

About Meditherm

Based in Fort Myers, Florida, privately-owned Meditherm Inc. manufactures and distributes the Med 5220 and Med 520 line of digital thermal imaging systems, also known as Fever Screen Stations. Meditherm is currently the only medical device manufacturer building IR equipment exclusively for medical and clinical use and more than 2,000 Meditherm scanners are currently in use worldwide for a wide range of medical uses including fever screening, sports medicine, breast screening, pain clinics, and vascular studies which include stroke risk evaluation and deep vein thrombosis. www.meditherm.com

Meditherm’s Peter Leando is available for interviews to discuss thermal imaging.

Peter Leando

Managing Director, Meditherm Inc

1-239-334-8833

peter@meditherm.com

It became immediately obvious that the level of training required for the operating technicians (and their wide range of abilities) made quick and strategic installations difficult and performance was variable.  There was a learning curve for both the trainee technicians as well as our support and installation personnel.

This experience highlighted the need for software design that was specific to the temperature range and detection of fever and that could be used by untrained operators.

A proprietary software program was developed by our engineers that provided pre-selected ranges of temperature with manually and automatically set alarms (threshold temperature) which would target any temperature above a selected range that passed in front of the detector.

The detector needed to be radiometric and calibrated to read real-time absolute temperature and be flexible enough to handle ambient temperature changes, varying degrees of unstable environmental conditions (caused by air conditioning, sunlight, electronic equipment, different types of lighting and reflective surfaces).

The result was the med520 which was tested extensively over the following year and was available when the avian flu outbreak took place.

There have been some additional software updates in the last year, which have made the operation of the system even more intuitive and now we are faced with another pandemic outbreak the med520 is ideally suited for very quick setup in any environment and to be operated by anyone with minimal computer skills in order to detect abnormal physiology.

The major benefit of the med520 is the ease of installation and operation. There is no formal training required for operators, the system is connected to a mains power supply (any country) or can run from a 9 v battery pack. It takes less than 5 minutes to set up and begin screening.

The auto threshold temperature means that the system will automatically find the normal body temperature of individual people, individuals among groups or individuals in crowds being scanned, this then sets the threshold alarm for anyone present with a fever or in fact any abnormal temperature ranges (which may include lower temperatures caused by evaporative cooling……. perspiration) 

We are not just looking for hot spots, the med520 uses proprietary algorithms to detect findings that are more accurate for specific symptoms like fever, inflammation and infection. The result is a low percent of false positive but more importantly, a very low potential for false negative.

• Medical grade sensitivity
• Fast identification of high risk individuals with an audible and visible alarm
• Designed to operate continuously 24 hours a day indefinitely