Abstract
Objective: Pathology of an internal organ/body part causes corresponding skin areas-organ projection areas/acupuncture points-to rectify applied electrical currents (a diode phenomenon) once the resistance "breakthrough effect" has been induced in these specific, and sometimes remote, skin zones. The aim of this study was to estimate the diagnostic accuracy-as well as the scope of utilization-for detection of breast pathology of organ electrodermal diagnostics (OED), which utilizes this electrophysiologic phenomenon. Materials and Methods: A multicenter randomized, double-blinded comparative study of OED results and clinical diagnoses, as the criteria standards, was done on 400 female volunteers, with a mean age of 39 (standard deviation: 9 years), at three academic breast clinics. Participants were divided into 7 groups: (1) a control group; (2) a cancer-survivor group; (3) a breast-fibroadenoma group; (4) a mastitis group; (5) a breast-abscess group; (6) a preinvasive breast-cancer group; and (7) an invasive breast-cancer group. Results: The OED overall detection rate was 88.8%, the sensitivity rate was 92.7%, and the specificity rate was 76.5%. The predictive value for positive OED results equaled 92.4% and, for negative OED results, equaled 77.3%. However, both sensitivity and specificity rates varied among specific groups. The highest sensitivity rates were shown by OED in groups with serious pathologies, such as invasive cancer (94.2%), preinvasive cancer (90.0%), breast abscess (94.4%), and mastitis (95.9%). The OED results correlated with the intensity of the pathologic process within breasts but were not affected by either the type or the etiology of the disease. Conclusions: OED appears to be a reliable method for detecting breast pathology; this method might also estimate the intensity of a breast pathologic process but cannot explain the cause of the disease directly.