Thermovascular changes associated with in situ and minimal breast cancers. Results of an ongoing prospective study after four years.

A four-year prospective study was conducted on more than 25,000 women, both asymptomatic (59%) and symptomatic (41%), with a view to investigating the thermal and vascular disorders associated with early stages of breast malignancy. All the patients underwent thermographic, mammographic and physical examinations performed under standard conditions and, when indicated, complementary radiographic (spot/magnified pictures), ultrasound and cytologic tests. Of the 294 in situ, microinvasive and nonpalpable cancers diagnosed in this study, 60-70% generated significant thermal anomalies that, in most cases, consisted of distorted thermovascular patterns. A tentative explanation for these clinical observations was formed from intramammary measurements of temperature and blood flow performed on seven patients and was based on recent experimental data on the origin of vascular reactions associated with cancer growth. This study clearly showed that thermography may contribute to the early detection of breast cancer and to the identification of women at high risk of developing breast cancer. Two hundred four (21.3%) of the 958 patients who, on their first visit, had an abnormal thermogram but no findings at physical examination or mammography developed cancer within the next three years (length of follow-up, 4-41 months).