Your initial appointment will take 30 minutes.
During this time you will complete the  health questionnaire - and a detailed health history in addition to our online form found on thii site under the New Patient  Page.  You will then be taken to a private examination room where you will be asked to disrobe  in order to become acclimated to the temperature of the room.

A female technician will be available to answer any questions.

After 15 minutes, the technician will take a series of images including front, lateral, and oblique views.

Full copies of our report will be forwarded to your health care professional as you request. 

 

PRE-EXAMINATION INSTRUCTIONS

 

In order to ensure that your images are diagnostic, the following instructions must be adhered to:

 

Safety
Breast Thermography is relatively new in Canada but is approved in the US and has been used in Europe for over twenty years. As stated elsewhere on this site, due to the completely non-invasive nature of the technology with no direct touch or contact your safety is assured.  

 

Can medical thermography diagnose breast cancer?
No. Essentially, the only definite diagnosis of breast cancer is microscopic examination of tissue obtained in a biopsy by a procedure called a lumpectomy or 'needle biopsy'. Thermography, like mammography and ultrasound is a screening tool useful to identify unique and abnormal changes in your breasts consistent with changes that occur when breast cancer may be developing. When there is an abnormal thermography finding you - the patient - and your health care practitioner will be in a better position to make and informed choice with regard to follow-up monitoring and diagnostic steps if indicated.  

 

Is Breast Thermography covered by SaskHealth or other Provincial Health Care Plans?
No. Health Services does not cover the cost of Thermography. 

 

What research has been done to verify the accuracy of thermography?
More than 800 studies have been reported in medical journals.

Do I need a referral from my doctor?
No, a referral is not necessary 

 

How long does it take?
Your entire procedure should take no more than half an hour - some full body procedures may take a little longer. 

 

How often is it suggested I do follow up scans?
Typically thermography is done every year if there are no unusual findings with your initial scan. Specific recommendations for more frequent scans are made on an individual basis as necessary. 

 

I am nursing my baby - is thermography safe?
Yes. Breast Thermography is both effective and safe for pregnant and nursing women. 

 

I have dense breast tissue - is thermography possible for me?
Yes. Breast Thermography is effective, reliable and safe for women with dense breast tissue. 

 

I have breast implants - is thermography possible for me?
Absolutely, with no pain or compression. 

 

Eur J Appl Physiol 2004 (May);   91 (5-6):   516-524
The use of thermography in the diagnosis and evaluation of complex regional pain syndrome type 1 (CRPS1) is based on the presence of temperature asymmetries between the involved area of the extremity and the corresponding area of the uninvolved extremity. The interpretation of thermographic images is, however, subjective and not validated for routine use. The objective of the present study was to develop a sensitive, specific and reproducible arithmetical model as the result of computer-assisted infrared thermography in patients with early stage CRPS1 in one hand.


J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2004 (Mar);   27 (3):   155–159
Intraexaminer and interexaminer reliability of paraspinal thermal scans using the TyTron C-3000 were found to be very high, with ICC values between 0.91 and 0.98. Changes seen in thermal scans when properly done are most likely due to actual physiological changes rather than equipment error.


J Manipulative Physiol Ther 2004 (Feb);   27 (2):   109–117
Cervical spine temperatures remained constant while lower back temperatures, in general, decreased for the entire 31-minute recording period. Although the results varied among subjects, on the average, the patterns stabilized after 16 minutes.



Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Osteopathy ~ March 23, 2002
This study demonstrates that temperature imbalances in the spine are correlated with lower health quality of life, offering objective support for historical claims in the art of manual medicine.


J Rehabil Res Dev 1996 (Oct);   33 (4):   377–386
Infrared Beam Thermography used in conjunction with a grid map of the body was the simplest and least expensive system to use for scanning and was as accurate as Video TRM.


Chiropractic Research Journal 1993;   2 (3) ~ FULL TEXT
Paraspinal cutaneous thermal anomalies have long been held to be suggestive of vertebral subluxation. A review of analytical theories relating to thermography and its use in chiropractic indicated a need for a more complete understanding of the relationship between thermographic data and spinal health. In this study we completed an in-depth review of literature relating to cutaneous thermography, analyzed the basic theory of commonly used instrumentation and postulated new concepts relating to paraspinal thermoceptive neuronal sympathetic function.


Ma Zui Xue Za Zhi 1990 (Dec);   28 (4):   493–501
Temperature is a very important and useful manifestation of various disease entities. The importance of body temperature as an indicator of disease has been known for centuries but in recent years attention has also been paid to how to conveniently and effectively make use of skin temperature as a diagnostic tool. Skin temperature can be measured with thermocouples, electronic thermistor-thermometers, electronic integrators, liquid crystal thermography, and infrared thermography. Of these, infrared thermography has the advantages of being noninvasive, remote from the patient when in use, and capable of producing multiple recordings at short time intervals. Here we present a case of vascular ischemic pain which was diagnosed and therapeutically assessed by thermography.


J Neurosurg 1988 (Oct);   69 (4):   552–555
The use of thermography in evaluating nerve injury is based on the presence of temperature asymmetries between the involved area of innervation and the corresponding area on the opposite side of the body. However, interpretation of the thermographic image has been troubled by subjectivity. This paper describes a computer-calculated method of collecting data that eliminates subjective biases.


J Neurosurg 1988 (Oct);   69 (4):   556–561
Temperature differences between the lower extremities were measured using a computerized thermometric scanning system in order to compare the degree of thermal asymmetry in 144 patients with low-back pain. The patients displayed highly significant thermal asymmetries, with the involved limb being cooler (p less than 0.001). When asymmetries exceeded 1 standard deviation from the mean temperature of homologous regions measured in 90 normal control subjects, the positive predictive value of thermometry in detecting root impingement was 94.7% and the specificity was 87.5%. 



William Cockburn, DC, FIACT
Because thermography is a noninvasive (no radiation) procedure, there is no specific legislation or regulatory act under which thermography can be scrutinized. Early thermographic pioneers created entrepreneurial training and certification programs for both physicians and technicians. These programs cultivated a host of new course instructors and a variety of organizations and certifications became available. Some courses offered thermographic certifications to people with no health care training at all. For example, injured workers could qualify under vocational rehabilitation laws to become certified and open their own labs. They found any doctor who was willing to read their studies, and few of those doctors were trained or certified in thermography.