The FDA is warning “women NOT to substitute a type of imaging known as breast thermography for traditional mammography.” The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel “Health & Science Today” blog reported that although FDA has “approved thermography as an additional diagnostic tool for detecting breast cancer, it is not approved to be used as a stand-alone technique.”
The director of the Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation Programs within FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Helen Barr, said, “While there is plenty of evidence that mammography is effective in breast cancer detection, there is simply no evidence that thermography can take its place.”
The FDA issued letters to healthcare providers to announce the warning.