The Difference Between Mammography and Thermography By April Beaman, RDH, CTT
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s a Medical Thermographer, I’m asked these several questions repeatedly, “What’s the difference between mammography and thermography?” “Is thermography better than mammography?” “Does it replace mammography?” There’s often confusion on this subject, by thinking one replaces the other. Nothing could be further from the truth! One could say comparing these two breast screening tools is like comparing apples to oranges. Let’s dive a little deeper, first looking at the differences between the two. Mammography Mammography is an X-ray that utilizes ionizing radiation to image the internal structure of the breast. During a mammogram, the breasts are positioned and compressed between two plates. Two X-ray images are taken of each breast, one from the top and one from the side. A mam18
Natural Nutmeg - January/February 2021
mogram is a structural test, its purpose is to detect a change of the anatomy within the breast, for example a mass or tumor. A radiologist studies the X-ray images to look for abnormalities, specifically densities and calcifications.
its purpose is to detect physiological activity of the breast tissue, for example, heat. A thermologist studies the thermal images to look for abnormalities, specifically uneven temperature variations and irregular vascular patterns.
Thermography
Comparing Apples to Oranges
Thermography is a pictorial representation of the heat emissions of the breasts. Think of a thermogram as a map that depicts heat, thermal patterns and temperature variations on the surface of body, which is represented by colors. Thermography utilizes a specialized infrared camera that does not touch or emit any radiation to the body. Because Thermography does not use compression, the entire chest including the breasts and axillary regions (armpit) are imaged. There’s a total of 6-8 images taken of all views of the chest and breast area in a series. A thermogram is a functional test,
Mammography is a test of structure (anatomy) and can locate a mass or a tumor that already exists within the breast. It can also locate something that looks like a tumor that is most likely harmless. None the less, this usually leads to additional mammograms or worse, unnecessary biopsies and treatment. Because Breast Thermography is a test of function (physiology) it cannot detect the exact location of a tumor, it detects heat and inflammation. It’s known that inflammation is the root cause of many diseases, including cancer. A find-
