After AFIB and Journées Francophones de Radiologie, but before Médica and Journées Techniques Biomédicales 2023, the PRS Healthcare team is taking a break this week. To mark Pink October, our laboratory, which specialises in the repair of ultrasound probes, would like to highlight an innovation. It’s an ultrasound bra that can detect breast cancer.
An intelligent ultrasound bra
Research into this topic quickly reveals that there are indeed several initiatives of this kind. For instance:
- Swiss students at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne who invented the “SmartBra”.
- Kemisola Bolarinwa, a Nigerian who founded the start-up Nextwear Technology (see video below).
- Julián Ríos Cantú, a Mexican who founded the start-up Eva Center (see video below).
These solutions, to mention just a few, use the same process and have the same goal. Developing an ultrasound bra to detect breast cancer as early as possible.
How does the ultrasound bra work?
The idea is that this smart bra can send out ultrasounds to detect the possible presence of a benign or malignant tumour. For Kemisola Bolarinwa, this is a vital tool for women around the world, where access to treatment remains difficult.
The inventors of the SmartBra point out that it could eliminate the need for mammography X-rays, a potentially painful examination for patients. But other health professionals are more cautious. They believe that such a tool cannot replace a mammogram. On the other hand, according to these same professionals, an ultrasound bra could be an excellent way to encourage women to undergo this type of examination if necessary.
Breast cancer in numbers
Worldwide
The World Health Organisation gives precise figures for this disease:
- “More than 2.2 million cases of breast cancer will be recorded in 2020, making it the most common cancer.
- Nearly one in 12 women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in women. About 685,000 women will die from breast cancer in 2020.
- Most breast cancer cases and deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
- The disparities in breast cancer between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries are considerable. The five-year survival rate is over 90% in high-income countries, but only 66% in India and 40% in South Africa.
- Africa and Polynesia have the highest (age-specific[1]) breast cancer mortality rates. In sub-Saharan Africa, half of women who die from breast cancer are under 50.
France
In France, according to the National Cancer Institute, “this disease remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in women”.
In terms of figures, the Ligue contre le cancer (French League Against Cancer) states that
- “54,000 new cases each year
- The most common cancer (33.5% of all new cancer cases)
- 11,900 deaths per year”.
As the WHO puts it: “Improved outcomes are the result of early detection followed by effective treatment based on a combination of surgery, radiotherapy and drug therapy. We can only support initiatives to improve early detection of this disease, such as the ultrasound bra.
Further information
Would you like to find out more about ultrasound bras? PRS Healthcare has two videos for you. The first is an interview with Kemisola Bolarinwa. The second presents the start-up Eva Center.
