Blood flow to the breast (and the rest of the body) is controlled by the autonomic nervous system (ANS).
When the body is cold, the autonomic nervous system constricts the blood vessels.
Abnormal and cancerous tissues operate outside the autonomic nervous system, creating chemicals that dilate the blood vessels and completely bypass the autonomic nervous system.
So when the hands are placed in cold water to cool the body, the autonomic nervous system normally constricts vessels everywhere, including the breasts. But the cancer and pre-cancer regions don’t constrict and show up as “hot spots” in the thermogram. These “hot spots” can be predictive of a current and future cancer diagnosis.
The series above shows normal breast coloration.
This woman’s chance of having breast cancer in the next year is very, very low.
She should feel reassured that she does not have breast cancer at this time.
The series above shows Stage-One breast coloration.
This woman needs further testing, such as a mammogram, to make
sure the increased line of heat seen on her right breast is not cancer.
The series above shows Stage-Two breast coloration.
This woman needs further testing such as a mammogram, and probably a biopsy
(a sampling of the tissue) to evaluate the area of increased heat in her right breast.
The series above shows Advanced breast coloration.
This woman urgently needs a biopsy to evaluate
the large amount of abnormal heat in her right breast.