Mindful Living NJ Magazine

Mindful Living NJ Magazine: Inside the Latest Issue

March 3, 2010

Featured: A Less Invasive Approach to Breast Health, Conscious Eating 101, National Nutrition Month…and more

NJ-based OB/Gyn Offers Less Invasive Approach to Preventative Breast Wellness
By Jen Maidenberg

Parsippany-based Dr. Dawn Goldstein is a board-certified obstetrician and gynecologist who says she “operates like a midwife,” referring specifically to her holistic approach to all areas of women’s health.

“Women as a group need to take a more active role in defining the ways we address important women’s health issues,” says Goldstein, who is not only open to childbirth choices, such as vaginal birth after Cesarean, but also stresses the need for more preventative care, particularly as it pertains to breast health.

“We need to better educate ourselves about the various techniques available to us in the fight against breast cancer,” she says, “and to the importance of taking a multi-modal approach to breast cancer detection.” Specifically, Goldstein is referring to breast thermography, a detection mode she employs in her practice as a complement to conventional screening methods like mammogram. Breast thermography is a state-of-the-art screening procedure that captures images of the breast to aid in the early detection of birregularities. It is based on the principle of temperature variation, the slight increase in heat that is almost always generated when chemical and blood vessel activity occurs in pre-cancerous tissue and the areas surrounding a developing breast cancer. Most notably, says Goldstein, whereas mammograms expose a woman to radiation, thermography “involves no radiation.”

Also, the compression of the breast involved with mammography is often painful. Thermographic images are taken a few feet away and the patient is not touched. Goldstein emphasizes though, in her opinion, it is extremely important to understand thermography is “not an alternative to mammogram, but an adjunctive, complementary test.” Some natural health advocates like Dr. Joseph Mercola recommend thermography as an alternative to mammogram.

For more information, visit www.breastthermographyinstitute.com or contact Dr. Goldstein at 877-315-SCAN.