mammograms are considered by some in the medical community to be so dangerous as to even promote the development of cancer, due to the heavy amounts of ionizing radiation mammograms use. A single test can expose you to the same amount of radiation as 1,000 chest X-rays—that’s nearly the equivalent of three chest X-rays per day for a year, an amount if seen from that perspective certainly gives one pause.
Indeed, according to top cancer expert Dr. Samuel Epstein, “The premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each 1 rad exposure increasing breast cancer risk by about 1 percent, with a cumulative 10 percent increased risk for each breast over a decade’s screening.”
More importantly, mammograms an almost negligible ability to prevent cancer deaths, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. A September 2010 study found that mammograms only reduced cancer death rates by 4 deaths for every 1,000 women who received annual testing for 10 years, which means that only 1 breast cancer death was averted per 2,500 women.
What most doctors won’t tell you, however, is there’s a safer, far more accurate alternative. The technology, called thermography, does not rely on radiation, but instead scans for heat levels in the body to detect inflammation. It’s so safe in fact that it poses no risks even to pregnant and nursing women. Cancerous and pre-cancerous cells are normally characterized with inflammation first before any growth visible on by mammography, and so thermograms are able to detect cancer years earlier than any other method.
A study conducted on women who received regular thermogram screenings over a ten year period found that an abnormal thermogram scan was ten times more reliable as a risk measure for breast cancer than family medical history. In addition, it also found that thermography was the first detector of potential cancer for 60% of the women who developed it.... read more
Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermography
Indeed, according to top cancer expert Dr. Samuel Epstein, “The premenopausal breast is highly sensitive to radiation, each 1 rad exposure increasing breast cancer risk by about 1 percent, with a cumulative 10 percent increased risk for each breast over a decade’s screening.”
More importantly, mammograms an almost negligible ability to prevent cancer deaths, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. A September 2010 study found that mammograms only reduced cancer death rates by 4 deaths for every 1,000 women who received annual testing for 10 years, which means that only 1 breast cancer death was averted per 2,500 women.
What most doctors won’t tell you, however, is there’s a safer, far more accurate alternative. The technology, called thermography, does not rely on radiation, but instead scans for heat levels in the body to detect inflammation. It’s so safe in fact that it poses no risks even to pregnant and nursing women. Cancerous and pre-cancerous cells are normally characterized with inflammation first before any growth visible on by mammography, and so thermograms are able to detect cancer years earlier than any other method.
A study conducted on women who received regular thermogram screenings over a ten year period found that an abnormal thermogram scan was ten times more reliable as a risk measure for breast cancer than family medical history. In addition, it also found that thermography was the first detector of potential cancer for 60% of the women who developed it.... read more
Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermography
