Women using thermography breast cancer screening are being urged not to trust its diagnosis, after reports that the test is unreliable.
Thermography – which produces an image of heat distribution on the surface of the body – has been promoted as a tool for the early detection of breast cancer.
But the Ministry of Health, the Cancer Society and the College of Radiographers are advising women not to forego regular breast cancer screening in favour of thermography – because surgeons have complained about women being given incorrect diagnoses.
Breast surgeon Dr Belinda Scott says very little is known about the test.
"We don't have any way of knowing who uses it or how many are using it; we don't have any quality assurance for it, we don't know what the machines are like, we don't know who is reading the report," she says.
"We actually know nothing about it and that's pretty scary really."
RadioLIVE