7 Healthcast: Hot and cold diagnosis

Its called Thermography. Unlike a mammogram, it doesn't use radiation. It uses heat to detect potential problems.

The red, orange and green on a Thermogram show what's going on inside your body. Thirty-eight-year-old Michelle Heyerdahl has good reason to want to know more.

"My grandmother had breast cancer. She died from breast cancer. And my mother had a benign lump," explains Michelle.

Michelle's too young to start regular mammograms. So, she's turning to digital infrared thermal imaging or Thermography.

Advanced Clinical Thermographer Tammy Leiner says it can detect, "Early stage breast cancer, but seven to 10 years before a mammogram would even see it."

Thermal imaging detects heat changes within the body. Normal healthy breast tissue shows up in cool blues and greens. Inflammation or heat is red and white.

Leiner says, "Cancers and tumors need a lot of blood to grow. So, early stage inflammation patterns can be a precursor to a problem that is much further down the road."

Still, not all doctors are sold on the test. Radiation Oncologist Dr. Scott Tannehill warns, "Not all cancers are necessarily of different temperatures."

Because of that a Thermogram won't catch everything. Experts warn that Thermography should not be used as the only method to detect breast cancer. The best approach is regular breast self-exams and mammograms.

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