More holistic practitioners are offering Medical Imaging Thermography (MIT) or Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) to patients.
So what is MIT or DITI?
It is especially useful as a diagnostic tool for early detection of breast cancer.
MIT or DITI provides a non-invasive and non radiating alternative tool for analyzing physiological function relative to skin temperature.
Practitioners use infrared cameras to measure metabolism – thermal energy emitted from the body.
The applications of thermography
Thermography has been recognized as a diagnostic tool since 1987 by the AMA, but has enjoyed more interest in the last few years by the alternative health community.
The first thermal imaging took place in 1948, taking about 40 minutes – today the procedure generally takes less than 30 minutes.
The non-invasive diagnostic tool of MIT or DITI detects increase or decrease in blood flow as a result of illness. An increase in blood flow or hyperthermia often indicates an inflammation or injury whereas hypothermia points to a degenerative condition that often results in lack of blood flow to an area of the body.
There are many applications for this tool that include treatment and diagnosis of:
- headaches
- allergies
- dental pathology
- carotid artery disease
- digestive dysfunction
- and numerous cancers
Breast cancer diagnosis has a 90% success rate as an early detection biological marker according to a journal article published in MDPI (peer review journals in medicine) by Hildebrandt, Rascher and Ammer.
How thermography works
Basically, MIT or DITI is a digital two dimensional imaging technique that provides information about the physiology of tissues.
Images are obtained via the energy that the human tissues emit. Human skin is a perfect emitter of infrared radiation at room temperature. Infrared cameras generate images based on the amount of heat dissipated at the surface by infrared radiation.
The technology is a sophisticated way of receiving electromagnetic radiation and converting it into electrical signals. These signals are finally displayed in gray shades or colors which represents temperature values. The constructed thermogram yields a quantitative and qualitative temperature map of the surface temperature, which can be related to distinct pathological condition and blood flow.
Although most thermography is not covered by insurance, it is becoming more widely accepted as a holistic approach to wellness and has become a powerful ally in early breast cancer detection, in particular.