Vascular Disease
Screening for Vascular Disease and Breast Cancer
Heart attacks and strokes are the typical end-stage manifestations of a degenerative process termed atherosclerosis, more commonly known as hardening of the arteries. This disease involves the progressive thickening of the medium-sized arteries with a fibrous scarring and the accumulation of a mineral matrix and fat, termed plaque. Atherosclerosis begins many years before the first clear symptoms are manifest, usually fifty to sixty years. That first clear symptom is death for one-third of those experiencing a heart attack or a stroke. These deadly diseases are the preeminent causes of death and disability in our western world and even those who survive will function in a diminished capacity from the tissue damage to their heart or brain. If we could not alter the typical progress of atherosclerosis, there would be no point in diagnosing it. However, developments by medical science have enabled physicians to effectively intervene and prevent death and a degraded life in most instances. The progressive nature of atherosclerosis is analogous to the snowball-on-the-mountain model; the key to making a difference is in detecting the disease process early and instituting effective treatment. There are numerous diagnostic techniques that can detect atherosclerosis at a stage when treatment can reverse atherosclerosis. Some of these methods of testing are very specific at the necessary cost of real risk of their own deadly complications as well as pain and great expense. However, several non-invasive techniques have been developed that have little or no risk of complications. Thermology has been demonstrated to be the most reliable of these non-invasive diagnostic techniques.
Thermology is the medical science of deriving diagnostic indications from highly detailed and sensitive infrared images of the human body. These infrared emissions are a natural and necessary by-product of every cell's energy conversion process, termed metabolism. The thermographic camera is an instrument that obtains a graphic imaging of these infrared emissions that are naturally emitted from the body. The circulation of blood through a system of arteries, veins and the heart acts to distribute and equalize the metabolically-derived heat from cellular metabolism throughout the body, much like a radiator. The arteries in the head and neck, arms and hands, and the legs and feet act to distribute the body's heat that is carried in the blood to these extremities while the veins act to return cooled blood to the trunk of the body. Any notable restrictions in the arteries will act to disrupt this distribution system and will result in reduced infrared emissions from the body sites receiving diminished blood flow. Further, the thermographic image can indicate the adaptation process to atherosclerosis termed collateralization, the process of producing ones own bypasses. Thermology can quickly image large areas of the body and evaluate important areas of the circulatory system for the signs of atherosclerosis. As it is completely without any risk, these studies can be repeated to evaluate the effects of treatment programs.