Breast cancer prevention is relatively easy for those who are ready, willing, able, and open in their hearts to consider the underlying and contributing issues involved in the genesis of this chaotic cell growth pattern. Much is known about breast cancer risk factors and assessment.
In 2005 a useful book was published entitled Better Breast Health for Life! This book was authored by 7 of us health care practitioners who contributed informational content and editing assistance to the lead author, Tirza Derflinger.
I referenced this very helpful little book in a Journal entry on July 18, 2010, which introduced a summary of what I have learned about the emotional considerations which I believe is at the foundational energetic origin of breast cancer. The issue of a lifetime of unresolved grief is the more challenging of the lifestyle issues to assist in the breast cancer healing paradigm which I work with.
Unresolved and ongoing grief re-triggering drives all of our subsequent aberrant life style choices. In addition, the now measurable Heart electromagnetic signaling associated with held and re-triggered grief is transmitted to cellular DNA (information center) via the cell membrane (sensing center). The transformation action centers (ribosomes and endoplasmic reticulum) and the energy power centers (mitochondria), then play out the chaos via vibrational, biochemical, and final biological response.
My earlier July, 2010 writing also covered associated topics, as well as some information about the origins of the Haelan LifeStream model.
Tirza runs a thermogram imaging center in Louisville, Colorado which is just outside of Boulder, on Colorado’s Front Range. She offers thermal imaging services in several Colorado communities now, and she educates the public on many important breast cancer prevention considerations which mainstream allopathic medical professionals will not take the opportunity to share.
The unique 105 page book covers this information. In addition, Tirza shares with the public more recent information about changing trends in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, and controversial considerations associated therewith.
I received an email from Tirza a couple of days ago outlining her Spring 2012 thermography clinic travel schedule for nearby communities on Colorado’s Western Slope.
I think this is a good time to post some information on breast cancer prevention. Everyone in our society is affected by breast cancer.
Enter Risk Assessing Thermal Imaging (RATI). It is an advanced form of thermal imaging available in Colorado through The Thermogram Center, Inc. RATI helps women to visualize inflammation in the breasts due to potential risk factors for breast cancer such as lymphatic congestion, systemic inflammation, and/or excess estrogen stimulation.
Here is an informative article which she wrote for her clients this past month:
Prevention or Detection… What Women Really Want
From the desk of Tirza Derflinger, CTT, Educator, January, 2012
“We hear so much about the importance of early detection for breast cancer to “save lives,” but women really want to know how to prevent breast cancer. Early detection is not prevention.
Prevention is supported through breast health education, risk factor awareness, and lifestyle modification. Now more than ever, women can capitalize on the preventive resources and tools available on their journeys to better breast health.
Any test that looks for cancer, even early, is an “after the fact” test: cancer has already developed. Women don’t just want to detect breast cancer early: they want to prevent it. Women need a “before the fact” test.
“After the fact” tests look for signs suggestive of cancer with a Detection Focus. Such studies include: mammography, thermography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), breast specific gamma imaging (BSGI), and positron emission tomography (PET Scan).
“Before the fact” tests look for signs consistent with cancer’s precursor, which is inflammation and other risk factors. Risk Assessing Thermal Imaging (RATI), as provided by The Thermogram Center, Inc., thus offers a Preventative Focus.
While none of the above-listed tests are truly diagnostic without a tissue sample (i.e. biopsy), many medical doctors think thermography and RATI are diagnostic. But they are mistaken since no tissue samples are collected for diagnosis! Hence I am attempting to educate the public:
RATI is a risk assessment tool… not a diagnostic test…it is an elective and educational service that supports prevention.
Not all thermography is the same, and few thermographers provide RATI, providing Thermobiological Risk Ratings on a scale of 1-5 for each breast.
The Thermogram Center is NOT in the service of thermography… it is in the service of RATI.
The benefit of RATI lies in its ability to observe potential inflammatory processes in the breasts (and body) early enough to intervene and reverse risk factors, thereby reducing the risk for cancer’s development. (Of course RATI supports early detection too.)
Since the causes of inflammation and effective risk reduction strategies are unique to each individual, it is important to individualize the education and prevention strategies for each woman based on her thermobiological findings, symptoms, lifestyle, history, intuition, and good common sense. And functional medicine specialists play an instrumental role in evaluation, prevention, and intervention.
Reducing risk isn’t rocket science, but requires action with patience and persistence.
As a Breast Health Educator, I provide risk factor education by way of individualized consultations and group presentations. Additionally, the book, Better Breast Health – for Life!™ (available at a discounted price to clients of The Thermogram Center) includes risk factor information and risk reducing strategies.
Is prevention the closest thing we women have to a cure? If there are at least 35 risk factors that can contribute to the development of breast cancer, will there ever be a “pill” to cure it?
Please help educate and spread the word about this safe, preventive and educational service!
For more information on Better Breast Health – for Life!™ or RATI in Colorado, visit www.ThermogramCenter.com or call 303-664-1139.”
In her article from last October, Tirza stated,” ….. for my clients at The Thermogram Center, I have been able to document that nearly 80% of women who follow their initial RATI session with risk reduction strategies see a decrease in inflammation and the thermal findings associated with breast cancer risk in their subsequent RATI session.”
Recent Pertinent Articles
Listed below are some useful articles which strongly support the use of RATI and conservative management of early breast cellular cancers, known as DCIS, or, ductal carcinoma in situ.
For Dr. Christiane Northrup’s September 29, 2010 article: “Best Breast Test”
For the March/April 2012 article from Well Being Journal: “Breast Cancer or Benign Lesion”
Crestone and Beyond
The articles above provide much information to help anyone get their bearings on the breast cancer process.
As a Breast Health Educator, Tirza provides risk factor education by way of individualized consultations and group presentations. Additionally, the book she is lead author of, Better Breast Health for Life!™ includes risk factor information and risk reducing strategies. This one-of-a-kind simple resource also has a 30 minute CD audio workbook to assist in understanding one’s risk concerns.
She provides Community Resource Sheets which list functional medicine specialists available in Colorado, such as can be seen here. In this link my Haelan LifeStream services are referenced, as is the July 18, 2010 Crestone and Beyond Journal entry mentioned above.
Another book, published in 1993 by Fulcrum Press, was written by a patient of mine who had an aggressive breast cancer. She kept a diary, and chronicled her journey through surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatments. The author of this book is Juliet Whitman, and her acclaimed book is entitled Breast Cancer Journal, a Century of Petals.
I was Juliet’s surgeon. We learned a lot from each other. She is doing well these days.
Her book was recognized by being selected as one of 5 finalists for National Book of the Year. Unfortunately, she was removed from the finalist list because she was born in Great Britain, not in the USA. She lived all of her days in America, and has absolutely no trace of a British accent. She once told me that her book was to be the winner.
My mother and her mother both died from breast cancer. My mother was, without doubt, one of the greatest and most gifted physicians who ever toiled in the realm of human suffering. Despite her uncanny gifts as a physician, she missed her own healing of the essential wounding pattern of those who manifest a breast cancer process. Her own mother also missed this aspect of life healing.
The genesis of breast cancer has its origins in unresolved grief which stretches deep into the early days of one’s life. Along the way, the grief wounding can be re-triggered, amplified, denied, buried, and not forgiven. In all cases of breast cancer which I have studied, some kind of significant series of traumatic grief experiences occurred in a 5-10 year window prior to the detection and diagnosis of the problem.
This time window is compatible with the known breast cancer cell growth curve dynamics. Such growth curves can be more aggressive, or not so aggressive. Very aggressive growth patterns can see the chaotic cell expression moving in a 2 year window. I treated many who were in the very aggressive category, and these usually younger patients did not fare as well.
If you want to purchase Better Breast Health for Life! You can reach Tirza at the contacts which she gives in her article above. All financial proceeds from the sale of the book go to assisting The Thermogram Center’s operational overhead.
In my view, better breast health for a woman in this society usually translates into whole woman health.
Thermal imaging screening (RATI) is the way I advise women in my life to go for baseline breast image screening and risk assessment and prevention. If any concerns are detected, life style advice is offered and further studies should be undertaken; from mammography to ultrasound evaluation to MRI to some form of tissue biopsy. Of course, a physical exam of the breasts by experienced health care providers is helpful. Physical exam, however, will not detect deeper and subtle or early breast tissue changes.
Mammography will also miss many breast cancer processes, upwards of 30% of cases, according to some reports. The false negative mammogram phenomenon is dependent on the cancer tissue density vs. the density of the surrounding normal breast tissue. The cancer tumor and the surrounding normal breast tisuue must be at a different tissue density in order for the tumor to be obvious on the film.
Despite the high expense of MRI studies for breast abnormalities, magnetic resonance imaging has a very low false negative rate in delineating suspicious breast tissue . However, an MRI study is helpful for fine definition of very suspect cases, as this study will delineate multifocal lesions in both breasts, and help guide treatment decisions. Ultrasound will help define solid tumor lesions from simple cysts and complex cysts.
Definitive diagnosis will depend upon tissue sampling, either by open excisional biopsy, or by needle biopsy. These are 2 procedures which carry their own controversial considerations. However, one or the other of the techniques will have to be considered to arrive at an accurate diagnosis.
Thermal imaging depicts both grey scale and color imaging of both breasts simultaneously, thus showing symmetry or asymmetry in how both breasts appear. Tissue temperature gradients are measured in the imagry. The study utilizes a simple infrared camera imaging. No harmful radiation is imparted.
Thermal breast imaging is a functional examination which assesses temperature as an indicator of possible abnormal metabolic and/or angiogenic activity. Angiogenesis is the process of formation of new blood vessels which cancer growths require.
Research suggests that when active cancer cells occupy a space as small as 1/5 of 1 millimeter, or, about the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen, they begin to develop their own blood supply. While such changes are too small for detection by palpation on physical exam, these changes can be scrutinized by thermal imaging.
Please remember, thermal imaging is not a diagnostic test. It is a risk marker test. When performed as RATI, thermal imaging becomes a potent preventative tool for women who are concerned about their individual breast cancer risks and how to lower them.
The images are read by a thermologist who is trained in thermal imaging interpretation. The information gained helps the health practitioner determine a patient’s risk for currently having breast cancer, or developing it in the future. The study does not directly detect or diagnose cancer, but it can help in reaching these goals.
The individual study is then graded and given a thermobiological risk level: from lowest risk TH1, to low risk TH2, to medium risk TH3, to high risk TH4, and to highest risk TH5. With each level of risk recommendations are given for optimization of lifestyle issues, follow up thermal imaging, referral for adjunct imaging, and/or tissue biopsy.
Hormonal grades 1 through 4 are also used to indicate the location and significance of a heightened, symmetrical vascular pattern which may be helpful in estimating the degree of estrogen receptor stimulation in the breast tissues.
While these risk ratings were established decades ago by researchers of thermography, subsequent studies continue to support their validity as a reliable risk indicator.
Long term follow up findings reported in the journals Cancer (45:51-56, 1980) and BioMedical Thermology (279-301, 1982) indicate that 40% of patients with high and highest risk TH4 and TH5 ratings are diagnosed with breast cancer within 10 years; the majority being diagnosed in the first 5 years.
In addition, a 2001 study conducted at Northwestern University’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology reports that abnormal thermal exams are 10 times as significant a risk factor as is family history.
Better Breast Health for Life! has 70 references for your review to substantiate the information offered in this Journal entry. I hope you will buy the book, and utilize this safe and reliable screening examination.
Thermal imaging can also be used as a screening tool for all aspects of the body, right up to whole body scans which are helpful in mapping zones of inflammatory change. Once again, lifestyle advice is forthcoming to assist the patient in this regard. The chemistry of inflammation is required as the initiator of all disease processes which have allopathic diagnosis terms applied to them, from osteoporosis to depression to breast cancer.
In summary, breast cancer is usually a slow growing process which takes years to establish its niche. Thermal imaging can provide one of the earliest clues to alert practitioner and patient that important imbalances are present in the flesh, and that lifestyle changes and further follow up are necessary to access for resolution of the imbalance or for detection of progression of the imbalance.
Signing off from Crestone and Beyond.
Wishing you the best that life and Love have to offer.