[Diagnosis of breast cancer by contact thermography (author's transl)]

Epidemiological studies performed in cooperation with the Austrian National Institute for Statistic show an increase of breast cancer in the age-group of women older than 50 years. Especially in this age-group screening for breast cancer is very important and successful. Mammography in this age-group is the most useful and accurate method. In the group of women aged less than 50 years and particularly less than 45 years the use of mammography for screening is limited because of its risks for the induction of breast cancer in young women. Therefore the combination of clinical examination and contact-thermography is a very promising alternative for the detection of breast cancer. In 133 cases of histologically proved breast cancer the high accuracy of this combination of clinical examination and contact-thermography in comparison with mammography is shown. Based on this good results a recommendation for a detection-scheme for breast cancer with a reduction of radiation exposure in young women by the use of contact-thermography is presented and discussed.