For many years now October continues to be Breast Cancer Awareness month and bring the colour pink to the forefront. Football, hockey, baseball players all wearing pink accessories in support of breast cancer, a disease that will affect 1 in 9 women and to 220 men in 2015 according to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. Also, statistics show it continues to be the most common cancer in women. So what are women to do?  

In healthy individuals, routine thermography can be used to detect metabolic abnormalities (rather than mammography to see structural changes) or "clinical markers" and can provide helpful preliminary information both to support daily choices or assist that which may merit further investigation. Thermography can be offered to women of all ages, women with dense breast tissue, non-specific physical or mammographic findings or women with a previous history of breast surgery or radiation.

No single screening tool provides excellent predictability but a combination of tools that also includes thermography has been shown to boost both the sensitivity and specificity to give aid in positive outcomes. Let's let women choose to be proactive with their breast health and give them the opportunity to not be a statistic.