Cancer scan catches illness 8 years early
Reported 08 May, 2008
A NEW cancer scan which can help detect abnormalities up to eight years earlier than a traditional mammogram is proving hugely popular in Ireland.
The CTI scan uses a unique thermography imaging tool, which is used for early pre-clinical diagnosis and is helping in the early detection of cancer. It can also help to determine how aggressive a cancer is.
The treatment is only available at the state of the art Irish Centre of Integrated Medicine in Naas.
The service is proving so popular that the clinic has already carried out over 2,500 scans. Olivia Smyth from Roscommon underwent the scan last year after concerns about her health.
The mum-of-two had the full body CTI and breast assessment which gave her the all-clear.
It had been in my head. We all know now that women in their thirties can get breast cancer so I decided to have the scan. It shows up any problems at a very early stage so I thought why not? she said.
SUITABLE
The procedure is radiation free and is therefore suitable for women of all ages, making it an option for women under the age of 50 who dont qualify for the National Cancer Screening Programme.
The CTI imaging uses a specialised infrared camera to take a picture of the breast. The CTI infrared camera can detect temperature patterns of heat emission from the skin surface to a depth of six millimetres.
This is is particularly good news considering the fact that one in four women in Ireland will develop breast cancer.
The ICIM Breast Assessment can help to detect breast cancer as early as eight years before a normal mammogram due to the ability to measure both physiological and anatomical changes. Physiological changes start to occur long before anatomical change results. It is these early tell tale signs that ICIM look out for, said a spokesperson for the clinic.
CTI was first used for observing battlefield troop movements at night. When the technology was declassified in the mid-1950s, Raymond Lawson, a Canadian surgeon and tumour metabolism researcher, thought the technology could be used to detect the increase in heat that cancerous breast tumours produce.