Ground-breaking health screening company launches in the South West
A newly formed local company is to provide a ground-breaking health screening service to clients across the South West. Exeter-based business partners Terri Bainbridge and Lisa Portman have launched Thermalogica, providing revolutionary Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI). A sophisticated camera is used to detect heat in order to measure the physiological activity, creating a map or thermal fingerprint of the infrared patterns of the body.
Still relatively new to the UK, DITI is widely established throughout America and some parts of Europe and is supported by 30 years of research and over 8000 published medical studies. Thermal Imaging is used as an aid for diagnosis and prognosis for various health issues including strokes, heart disease and cancers. The thermal scans also provide an insight for people who have incurred injuries and wish to monitor their rehabilitation. This non-invasive procedure is painless and emits no radiation therefore it is even safe for use on children.
Two years ago Terri was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer at just 39. Whilst undergoing chemotherapy her daughter Billie aged 4 was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and the ‘Billie Butterfly fund’ was launched to fundraise for her treatment in America and research into the disease raising nearly £400,000. Sadly, Billie passed away last summer shortly after her 5th birthday.
Following her operation Terri was advised that a large tumour found, which had not shown up on the mammogram, had probably started growing in her mid-twenties. Her subsequent research into this disease led her to thermal imaging which specialises in early disease detection throughout the whole body and although not yet widely available in the UK it is extensively used in America for breast screening.
Terri Bainbridge co-founder of Thermalogica says: “When I found a small lump in my breast and was diagnosed with cancer I was given the choice to have the whole breast removed or just the lump. I chose to have the whole breast removed just to be sure and was shocked when told that this had probably been growing undetected for approximately 15 years. Lisa and I carried out extensive negotiating and training and set up Thermalogica Health Screening this year to enable people to take charge of their own health. In particular, we wanted to give women concerned about breast cancer the opportunity to monitor this potential risk from a younger age to help catch disease at its earliest stage.”
Thermalogica offers a number of screening packages which can be tailored to individual clients, including upper or lower half body screening; full body screening; breast screening and regions of interest which work particularly well to help visualise pain and monitor injury rehabilitation. Unlike X-rays, ultrasounds and mammography that show the structure of the body, Thermography detects subtle physiological changes and can identify how your body functions.
Images are taken by Terri and Lisa; both fully trained clinical thermographers, before being sent via a secured server to a professional group of physicians trained in the protocols of reading thermal images. A full medical report is then produced by the dedicated team of doctors who are registered Thermologists. The images are archived in a secure data base and future scans are compared to the earlier images to monitor any changes over a period of time.
Lisa Portman co-founder of Thermalogica says “Thermal imaging is set apart from any other health screening tool and can show signs of disease such as diabetes before it would be detected from a blood test and potential cancer up to 8-10 years before it shows on a mammogram. Having supported Terri over the past two years, we decided to create a company that could bring Harley Street technology to the South West without the London price tag. This technology is widely used in other countries for health screening, and what we can detect sometimes at its earliest stage is astounding – so why not have it available to everyone in the South West?’ Lisa says ‘We can help Men, women and children of any age to screen for unexplained pain or injury as well as early stage disease detection – especially cancer.’
