Heat sensors in cameras at Edinburgh detect woman’s breast cancer

In a rare incident a female tourist’s breast cancer was detected by thermal cameras when she was visiting the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions at Edinburgh, Scotland. The 41 year old woman, Bal Gill, noticed heat patches over her breast area which was out of place. Post this, she visited her doctor who scheduled a mammogram which revealed that she has early-stage breast cancer and the thermal cameras had acted as a saving grace. She is currently undergoing surgeries to contain the spread of the cancer cells.

She also wrote a letter to Andrew Johnson, the General Manager at Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, to thank him.  He wrote back saying, “We did not realise that our Thermal Camera had the potential to detect life-changing symptoms in this way. We were really moved when Bal contacted us to share her story as breast cancer is very close to home for me and a number of our team. We wish her all the best with her recovery and hope to meet her and her family in the future.”

Thermographs help in detecting cancer by detecting the blood flow and heat spots present within the body. Cancer patches tend to be larger and have more blood flow in the area. Howerever, they are not very reliable and the FDA recommends women aged 40-50 to get regular mammograms for precaution.