Breast Health Program
If you are looking for non-invasive, pain-free options to monitor your breast health, our Breast Health Program utilizes a combination of Thermography and a Digital Breast Exam to reveal a comprehensive picture of breast health. This non-invasive, pain-free exam is combined with an informative, educational and instructional session with our Naturopathic Physician who will teach you how to do a self-breast exam and share information with you to encourage self-breast awareness for better breast health.
Just as a digital camera captures the sense of sight, a digital breast scanner's tactile sensing apparatus captures the sense of touch. The device scans the breast and digitally records its findings in permanent, reproducible 3D format to a laptop computer, including location, size, shape and hardness of any masses found.
The Thermography Scanner takes a ‘picture’ of your physiology. It does not show lumps or masses, but it can show vascular activity taking place in the breast and it will also show physiological changes taking place in the breast over time. Your Thermography Scans are monitored for changes from one scan to the next.
Every woman over 18 should be aware of their own breast health. The combination of the Thermography Scan and Digital Breast Exam as a part of a breast health regimen will provide you with information about your ongoing breast health and should any changes ocurr, there will be documented records of your breast health history for easy reference. Statistics confirm that Canadian women aged 20-49 have one of the highest rates of breast cancer in the developed world. Early detection is the best weapon against breast cancer. Mammography, the standard diagnostic tool, is only recommended in Canada for women over 40. In the US, mammography is recommended only for women over 50 and only once every two years.
Even women over 40 who have regular mammograms can benefit from our Breast Health Program as a means of documenting breast abnormalities at an extremely early stage.
Thermography Scans and Digital Breast Exams are also effective and safe for women with dense breast tissue or those who have had implants.
A Naturopathic Physician will use the scanner in conjunction with a Clinical Breast Exam to look for and record lumps and changes in the size, shape, or texture of your breasts and document the findings. The device glides over the breast’s surface and the procedure is usually completed in a matter of minutes.
A Certified Thermographer will take a series of images of your breasts. You will be wearing a gown and will be asked to disrobe for the scans. It will only take a few minutes. When you book your appointment, you will be given a note to ensure you have all of the information you will require for your appointment.
Yes. A complete health history will be required and you will be asked to complete a form in preparation for your appointment.
For more information, we encourage you to review the following clinical papers:
Sarvazyan A, Egorov V, Son JS, Kaufman CS: Cost-effective screening for breast cancer worldwide: current state and future directions. Breast Cancer: Basic and Clinical Research 2008; 1: pp. 91–99.
Download PDF
Kearney TJ, Airapetian S, and Sarvazyan A, "Tactile breast imaging to increase the sensitivity of breast examination" , J Clin Oncol, Volume 22, July 15 supp: 103, 2004
Download PDF
Ables DC, et al., "Development of a device for documenting the clinical breast exam using a capacitive tactile array sensor." Medicine Meets Virtual Reality, 15th Annual Meeting, February 2007.
Download PDF
Ables DC, et al., "The science behind electronic palpation: quantifying the sense of touch used in the clinical breast exam." San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, 29th Annual Meeting, December 2006.
Download PDF
Kaufman CS, et al., "Objective measurement of the physical exam using a new device: reproducible triage of palpable masses" , Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, 2004; 88; supp 1:S223-4- SABCS 2004
Download PDF
Kaufman CS, Palpation Imaging: Current Status, White paper 2005
Download PDF
Kaufman CS, Jacobson L, Bachman BA, Kaufman LB: Digital documentation of the physical examination: moving the clinical breast exam to the electronic medical record. The American Journal of Surgery 192 (2006) 444-449.
Download PDF
Please review these resources for more information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fcjRIbmnic&feature=related
http://naturalhealthcenter.mercola.com/services/Thermography.aspx
At Valentus Clinics, we bring together two non-invasive technologies to give women of all ages radiation-free and painless options for monitoring their breast health: Thermography and Digital Breast Exams.
Thermography is particularly useful in monitoring breast health. A thermogram can alert doctors to changes in the vascular activity of the breast.
A Digital Breast Exam is up to four times more sensitive than the human hand in identifying lumps and lesions in the breast tissue.
Together, Thermography and Digital Breast Exams combined with a Clinical Breast Exam, help to give women a more complete picture of their breast health and provide doctors with useful information in determining any next steps.
Our Breast Health Program consists of three elements:
- A Thermography Scan of your breasts. The scan is taken by a certified technician and the images are uploaded for a Medical Doctor’s interpretation. This non-invasive, pain-free scan is valuable in monitoring changes taking place in the breast over time.
- A Clinical Breast Exam is done in conjunction with a Digital Breast Exam. The technology is a Health Canada- and FDA-cleared small, hand-held screening device that glides smoothly across the breast. A highly sensitive receptor generates a 3-dimensional image map of lesions within the breast, which are then displayed and stored on a small laptop computer. If a mass is detected, the software will show its estimated size, shape, hardness and location. The receptor is up to four times as sensitive as the human hand and effectively identifies lumps and lesions. In fact, digital breast scanning has been clinically proven to map lesions as small as 5mm. This state-of-the-art technology emits no radiation and causes no pain. This device is used to document the Clinical Breast Exam conducted by the Naturopathic Physician.
- A Naturopathic Physician teaches you how to do a proper self-breast exam and discusses how to monitor your breasts for changes. She also discusses other issues that affect your breast health.
At Valentus, our approach to healing is unique in that our doctors and health professionals work with a number of state-of-the-art, non-invasive technologies that are designed to stimulate the body's innate ability to heal itself. We are achieving remarkable results!