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Medical Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) |
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| As well as reading the questions below, you may also want to download our PDF leaflets on Thermal Imaging Preparation, Thermal Imaging After Care, the Value of Thermal Imaging in Breast Screening and our general DITI brochure. |
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Frequently Asked Questions |
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How does DITI work? |
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| Medical DITI is a non-invasive technique that visually quantifies and measures changes in skin surface temperature to a very sensitive 0.05 degrees centigrade. An infrared scanning device is used to convert infrared radiation emitted from the skin surface into electrical impulses that are visualised in colour on a monitor. This visual image graphically maps the body temperature and is referred to as a thermogram. The spectrum of colours indicates an increase or decrease in the amount of infrared radiation being emitted from the body surface. Since there is a high degree of thermal symmetry in the normal body, subtle abnormal temperature asymmetry's can be easily identified. As tumours emit more heat than their surrounding tissues and over time stay hot or become even hotter, thermal imaging is a sensible method of detecting such early changes and risk factors. DITI therefore is ideal and excellent for measuring the extent or degree of “activity” within a given area. An area that measures too hot or even too cold are noted as being early warning signals of something sinister in the underlying tissue. | ||
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What is DITI unable to show? |
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| DITI is not able to show clearly details of anatomical structures within the body. These are better shown with ultrasound, MRI and X-rays. Because DITI is a measure of function rather than anatomical structures, DITI may not always show for example the presence of a lump, if this lump is benign, quiet, non invasive or not active. A lump does not always necessarily mean it is cancerous or active. |
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Is there a full body scan that is safe and reliable? |
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| Yes, and thousands of people in the USA have taken advantage of DITI which is now offered at our Wholistic Medical Centre. A patented DITI system detects infrared radiation to measure the physiological activity in your body. This clinical test is supported by 30 years of research and over 8,000 published medical studies. This amazing scan shows you “bio-markers” that can reveal how efficiently your organs are functioning. You will appreciate DITI's ability to “see” inflammation, nerve and vascular changes that are invisible to X-ray and MRI. It is totally safe to use this state of the art technology to monitor your health. |
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Are there any contra-indications to having DITI? |
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| None - the procedure is non-invasive, non-contact and with no radiation. | ||
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Is it safe to have DITI during pregnancy? |
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Although Thermal scans are safe during pregnancy (as they are radiation free and non-invasive) breast images will be affected by the hormonal changes within about 48 hours of conception and will not return to a stable thermal fingerprint until about 3 months after the end of lactation. After this point, Thermal scans can resume as normal.
If you have further queries regarding pregnancy and Thermal scanning please consult our clinic staff. |
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Do I need to be referred by my doctor? |
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| It is not necessary to be referred by your doctor, although many practitioners are now recognising the importance of DITI as valuable method of testing and monitoring, and do refer their patients to us. All you need to do is call us on 020 7580 7537 to make your appointment. |
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Can DITI diagnose cancer? |
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| Thermal Imaging, mammography and ultrasounds are not diagnostic tests. Thermal Imaging is an objective test measuring skin surface temperature to a very sensitive and accurate degree reflecting changes in physiological and metabolic activity within the underlying tissue area. While breast cancer can only be truly diagnosed by tissue biopsy, breast thermography safely eliminates the need for most unnecessary biopsies as well as the associated high cost and emotional suffering, and it does so years sooner than any other test in modern medicine. |
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How can DITI help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer? |
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| An Infrared camera takes a thermal image. Inflammation shows as hotter than normal tissue around the problem area. Just like magic, you can see the inflammatory patterns with your own eyes. | ||
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| The red line you see on the neck is a major artery (carotid artery) that is hotter than it should be (inflammation). Next to it is a picture of someone whose artery is normal. This is a safe way to see what is going on inside the body from the outside. When there is inflammation in this artery, it usually means other arteries in the body are inflamed, not just the carotid artery. Now look at this Infrared picture of a woman with a very early stage of breast cancer. The arrow shows where the cancer cells are located. Around it you can see the heat it creates as well as the vein that delivers blood to the area so it can grow (without a blood supply it would die). |
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| What's so amazing is that these conditions can be seen many years before a person has symptoms, long before it is normally detected with other kinds of diagnostic tests and also long before irreparable damage is done. Everyone should have these images taken - they save lives! |
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DITI screenings for early signs of: |
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When should women consider having DITI? |
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| It is important to begin breast cancer screening long before 40 years old. It should begin at the age of 25 in order to identify young women who are already developing breast cancer since most breast cancers do not become palpable until they are greater than 1cm in size - by that time 25% have already metastasised. Because most lethal breast cancers take approximately 15 years from their beginning to the time of death, women need reliable testing that starts when the cancer is initially forming - in their mid-twenties. Another reason to start screening earlier is that young women with dense breast tissue are the most difficult to evaluate using breast palpation, mammography and ultrasound examinations, yet their significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer can be accurately detected with breast thermography. You might also want to look at our Case Histories page. |
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How much does a breast DITI cost? |
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Will private insurance cover for this test? |
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| As far as we are aware there are no insurance companies currently covering thermal breast screening. However please feel free to request this from your insurance provider to make them aware of the value of this early method of detection as many of the new forward thinking insurance providers are encouraging their clients to be proactive regarding their health care. | ||
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How often will I need to have this test done? |
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| You will be asked to attend a 3 month follow up after your first scan, which is essential to establish a baseline, and will normally be arranged in advance with you when you attend for your first scan. This follow up scan is free of charge provided that it is taken between 90 and 150 days after your original scan. Normal charges will apply to follow up scans not taken within this timescale. It is recommended that you attend annually thereafter, unless there are any suspicious findings in your report when it may be suggested that you attend sooner to monitor any change. |
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Why is it important to have annual DITI breast scans? |
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As with any screening test, it is important to check and monitor for any changes or new developments. The following case history illustrates why it is important to have regular Thermal Scans. This patient aged 75 had normal thermal breast images in August 2004 and August 2005. However there was a definite change in her thermal pattern on her breast image in May 2006 (only 6 months after her previous scan). Further clinical correlation with ultrasound showed a 1cm lump. She proceeded to a lumpectomy and a sentinel node biopsy was negative. Testing through us at the WMC showed her to be oestrogen dominant which was corrected using Functional Biochemistry. Using FB we were also able to find a substitute to Tamoxifen. Early detection meant that this patient was able to identify and deal with her early stage breast cancer with the minimum of invasive treatments.
August 2004
August 2005
May 2006 |
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What preparation is needed before having the DITI? |
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How long does the DITI take to do? |
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| You should allow 45 minutes for your first scan. Follow up scans will take approximately 20-30 minutes. |
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What happens on the day of the scan? |
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Preparation: You will be directed to the Thermal Imaging department where our female Thermographers will confirm the details of your case history with you. After completing a breast history questionnaire, you will be asked to undress to the waist in a private room to allow your breasts will need to cool to room temperature for at least 5 minutes. Scanning: You will be asked to sit on a stool about 3 feet in front of the camera and once your body temperature has stabilized you will be asked to rest your hands behind your head while 6 images are taken. Breast Examination: Your breasts will be examined by a trained female professional and used as part of your comprehensive evaluation. Self Breast Examination: You will be shown how to do your own manual breast examinations and provided with a chart to record your findings monthly. |
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At the end of the session you will have an opportunity to look at your pictures briefly. Reporting: Your Thermal breast scans will be carefully read and reported by a team of medical Doctors who are specially trained in Thermal Image reporting. |
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How soon do I receive the report? |
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| You will be notifed within 7 to 14 days of your scan that your report has been recieved and an appointment will be arranged for you to call our clinic to discuss your results with one of our Practitioners. Following this conversation, your report will be sent to you along with a summary of the consultation discussion (in most cases) and other information sheets as appropriate. Please note that the free 3 month follow up scan is normally sent out to patients without discussion unless there is a major change noted from your origional first scan. | ||
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Does DITI take the place of mammography? |
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| No, because whereas mammography is a test of anatomical structure, DITI is a test or measure of function, detecting subtle changes in physiology and metabolic activity within the underlying tissue. In the event of detecting any suspicious asymmetrical changes within the breast tissue, it is advised to have this clinically correlated with mammography and/or ultrasound to pinpoint the precise location of a breast lump or tumour. Therefore DITI does not take the place of Mammography but is an excellent screening device to determine if mammography really is indicated as a confirmatory test. In other words, why have a mammogram if your breast thermal image scans are normal? |
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Isn't this all a bit too frightening? |
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| Why should this be frightening when in principle, DITI is no different to any other screening tool - its goal being to detect abnormal changes as early as possible so as to give women a chance and choice to actively reverse this process. Other similar screening tools include cervical smears, blood pressure checks, checking for cholesterol levels, testing for potential diabetes amongst many others. As with any screening tool, DITI will appeal mostly to those who are interested to learn how their body is coping with all the challenges that confront it and what they can do to help themselves minimise this insult and maximise their healing process. DITI helps to provide us with the early warning signals we require to take the necessary steps to avoid this natural progression into a more acute crisis many years later. The value and beauty of DITI is that by helping to detect abnormal developments in the functioning of the underlying breast tissue so early, long before a discrete cancer lump is formed and felt, it does give you important choices or options to take responsibility in helping reverse the process. It is in the early detection stages that such a reversal of an abnormal process is actually possible and realistic. What DITI can do is to help motivate us to do what we deep down know is best for us - namely important lifestyle changes including dietary modifications, exercising and all that is required to rapidly reduce the toxic load on our precious immune system. With the alarming increase in incidence of breast cancer especially affecting younger women, it is proving necessary to have a reliable and accurate screening tool such as DITI to help in its early detection. Many of us know deep down that we are on some level harming ourselves through bad habits or addiction patterns that we seem imprisoned by. With DITI and what it might show us, we get the necessary jolt, motivation or justification that we have in a way been waiting for to finally crack this bad habit and do something positive to help ourselves. So rather than seeing DITI as something frightening, we can turn that around, seeing it as an exciting opportunity to firstly establish if we are at risk and if so, reverse what could otherwise potentially become a devastating disease. In hindsight, most women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer would much rather have identified a risk with DITI, early enough to take action to reverse the disease process. The value of DITI is also to give you peace of mind when all shows clear on your thermal scans whilst you might otherwise be carrying so much fear totally unnecessarily. |
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What do I do if my breast scan report looks suspicious? |
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When a breast thermal scan is positive or suspicious, the job of differential diagnosis begins requiring further more detailed questioning and examinations including clinical correlation with ultrasound and/or mammography. In most instances the clinical correlation is negative and it then becomes the job of the patients practitioner or doctor to look at other common contributory factors including treating any lymph congestion with both lifestyle and dietary changes as well as taking herbal homeopathic or lymph drainage remedies. Other factors to consider would be to wear correctly fitting, bras and to look at ways of reducing the toxic load on the body, especially to the liver and improving overall circulation to the organs ensuring adequate flow of good nourishment to the vital organs as well as prompt removal of toxic waste produced by these organs. Doing a bowel cleanse also becomes an essential part of an internal detox programme as well as establishing the presence of toxic metal accumulation which inevitably affects the liver and breast tissue. (see also, our DITI Aftercare Leaflet and this abstract of an article on levels of toxic metals in breast cancer). Our practitioners at the Wholistic Medical Centre specialise in ascertaining exactly such information, including; which is the most stressed organ in the body, what is a priority to deal with right now and which is the most appropriate remedy to help correct this disturbance or imbalance. It is also possible to test if you are oestrogen dominant, and what precise nutrient is needed to ensure that oestrogens are broken down fully. (see also Bio Meridian testing (PDF) and our functional biochemistry section). We also offer educational talks/seminars to empower women to help themselves, giving them choices, which they may otherwise not have, or be aware of. We are also proud to have a close working relationship with Cancer Options, a team of orthodox research professionals, who are committed to helping clients make confident, imformed choices about their cancer care. |
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Why is this test not more widely used in hospitals? |
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| Most health care providers have been trained in detecting and treating the later stage tumours and because there are so many people in the late stages, these are the ones who need their attention most. Unfortunately, such detection of early breast changes and intervention is not their prime focus. Most are not even aware of Thermal Imaging or its benefits but this too will change as DITI inevitably becomes more widely known and used as an “exciting advance in breast cancer detection”. |
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Do DITI results ever contradict other test results? |
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| It is possible to get a positive finding with DITI that has not shown up with conventional methods of testing which measure physical, structural abnormalities. Unlike mammograms, DITI is measuring the degree of increased heat activity feeding a localised suspicious area that may not have yet manifested into a physical abnormality. Conversely it is possible that a positive finding with conventional testing may not show as positive with DITI. In other words, you could have an obvious palpable lump on breast examination and mammography but with DITI this lump appears “quiet” and nicely shielded off with no increase in vascularity or blood flow to this area. The most likely advice from a DITI perspective in this case would be to leave this lump well alone and not activate it by breaking open its shell with doing a fine needle biopsy, running the risk of upsetting or interfering with what was being well taken care of by the body's natural self healing process. With the 99% sensitivity and accuracy of DITI in identifying changes to breast physiology, negative annual thermograms provide powerful evidence that cancer is NOT developing. |
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| As well as reading the questions below, you may also want to download our PDF leaflets on Thermal Imaging Preparation, Thermal Imaging After Care, the Value of Thermal Imaging in Breast Screening and our general DITI brochure. | ||
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