By: Aderinto Ayoade
The Houston Holistic Health Company Limited, a promoter of medical equipment for early cancer detection, has announced the availability of a biological risk markeor called Breast Thermography in response to the cancer epidemic, which consumes about 80,000 lives annually in Nigeria.
Breast Thermography is an imaging technology that uses advanced computerised infrared camera systems to detect heat patterns in the breast and other parts of the body. Thermography is a change from sole dependence upon procedures that only provide detection of existing cancers to technologies that reflect early cancerous process that provide true screening test.
The firm’s Managing Director, Dr. Gracie Chukwu qouting the World Health Organisation (WHO) said: “Nigerian cancer death ratio of 4 in 5 is one of the most alarming in the world. For a country like Nigeria with a challenging health sector, the available records are truly troubling: over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer annually, about 80,000 die from this disease, that is, on the average 240 Nigerians die daily and 10 Nigerians every hour from this scourge. If a significant change in breast cancer mortality is to be realized, we must rethink what screening tests. “
She said Thermography will detect this abnormal heat patterns by scanning the breasts with a specialised infrared camera and analyse the information, using sophisticated computer programmes. “Its unique ability to play a significant role I n prevention of cancer is an impressive added benefit. The number of women who die from this disease will continue to increase if nothing is done to provide them with a true early warning system. With breast Thermography, women of all ages are given hope and a true early detection edge in the battle against breast cancer,” she said.
She added:“Thermography medical infrared imaging is very safe – no radiation – unlike mammogram. It’s even safe for pregnant and nursing women. It is merely an image of the heat of the body unlike a mammogram, it doesn’t hurt.”
WHO, she said, has urged health sector players to pay special attention to early diagnosis of cancer as most oncological disease are curable when identified early to stem the ugly tide and reverse the tragic trend, stressing that many cancer cases are diagnosed too late.