A Comparative Review of Thermography as a Breast Screening Technique

guidelines vary in North America. In the United States, the US Preventive Services Task force (USPSTF) “recommends screening mammography, with or without clinical breast exam, every 1 to 2 years for women aged 40 or older.” In addition, there are no recommendations for or against the use of CBE or breast self exam (BSE) in screening. In Canada, mammography and CBE are accepted procedures for breast cancer screening. There are, however, different recommendations based on age. For women aged 50 and older, mammography screening Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer of women in North America. The National Cancer Institute of Canada estimates that 1 in 9 women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 27 will die from the disease. The statistics on the United States are similar with incidence estimated to be 1 in 8 women developing breast cancer. The probability of developing breast cancer increases with age (see Table 1) and the largest risk factors associated with the development of breast cancer, specifically age and gender, are not modifiable. Despite advances in treatment that have reduced breast cancer mortality over the past two decades, next to lung cancer, breast cancer still remains the second leading cause of cancer death in women. Clinical breast exam (CBE) and mammography are the two most widely A Comparative Review of Thermography as a Breast Screening Technique