Gym chain stops 'misleading' £150 breast cancer scans after complaints from doctors

LA Fitness was offering young women a service to create heat maps of their breasts, claiming it could locate tumours up to 10 years before conventional scans.

But they suspended the scheme after doctors said the scans were useless.

At least woman developed breast cancer after being given the all-clear by a scan carried out at a private clinic.

Thermography scans are available at many private clinics and thousands of women pay hundreds of pounds at private clinics for the scans every year.

But Professor Kefah Mokbel, a breast cancer surgeon at St George's Hospital in South London, said they cannot properly spot signs of the disease.

'There is no reliable evidence that these scans are sensitive or specific enough to detect breast cancer,' he said.

'I am worried that women are being misled by marketing. They need to be aware that this is not proven.'

Opal Screening began offering the scans at two branches of LA Fitness in North London and at least 30 women have received the service.

It was going to start drop-in clinics in October but yesterday suspended the scheme after doctors raised concerns.

The scans were aimed at young women because the NHS breast cancer screening programme is only available between the ages of 50 and 70.

The cost was £75 per scan and the women were advised to have two.

The thermographic scans are supposed to highlight abnormal growth in blood vessels - a possible indicator of cancer.

But Dr Nick Perry, consultant radiologist at Bart's Hospital said: 'There is no reputable population breast screening programme in the world that used thermography.

'There is no evidence for its effectiveness, it has not been subject to proper trials, it has an unacceptably high false positive rate and to charge money is questionable.'

Mother-of-two Emma Cannon, 39, paid for a heat scan at a London clinic in 2004. She was given the all-clear went on to develop cancer.

'It lulled me into a false sense of security,' she said. 'I was not even seen by a doctor, yet nine months later I was told cancer had spread to my lymph nodes.'

She has since had a lumpectomy, nine months of chemotherapy and 33 courses of radiotherapy.

Thermography is approved in the US for use alongside traditional mammograms. The NHS say it should not be used as an alternative.

Supporters point to studies which show that four in 10 women with abnormal thermal scans go on to get breast cancer.

A spokesman for Opal Screening said: 'Thermography is used extensively in the US. Its efficacy has been proved by numerous peer review papers.

'However, it has been brought to our attention that this evidence has been questioned. Being a responsible company, we decided to suspend the service immediately until this issue is resolved.'

Stuart Broster, chief executive of LA Fitness, promised that all women who had paid for scans would be offered refunds.