An Extra Signal While She Waits: A Ten-Minute Thermal Recording at the Mammogram Visit, Read by Its Warning Number

Mammography is the standard screening test for breast cancer. This concept note does not change it. It adds one extra signal during the same visit. A mammogram is a still picture. While a woman waits for her mammogram, a thermal camera can instead record the skin temperature of both breasts for 10 to 15 minutes, which makes a short film. Skin temperature shows tiny wobbles from blood flow. In a healthy breast, the wobbles fade quickly. The note proposes that a breast with a growing abnormality may take longer to settle. A number called the lag-1 autocorrelation, the warning number, measures this. It is worked out from the woman's own recording. It needs no comparison with other women and no training. The note sets out the readings, the steps to work out two independent warning numbers, and a three-level action on the screening record when the number stays high. It acts only on the report and the review order, and never on a treatment decision. The mammogram stays the standard test, and this is an add-on, never a replacement. This is a concept note. No patient data have been analysed, and a test on real recordings is needed.