New Tech to Help Detect Breast Cancer

It’s sad but true (and an important fact to know) that current data shows around 2.3 million people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. But the good news is that young women around the world are inventing new tech to make breast cancer diagnosis easier, cheaper and more accessible.

I’ll be honest, I grew up knowing very little about breast cancer. I didn’t think it was something I had to worry about until I was an “older woman”. But, first of all, it’s not only women who can be diagnosed with the disease. Men have a small amount of breast tissue behind their nipples and while it is rare, 500 men are diagnosed annually in Australia. And it’s not just “older” women either. While it is true that the Australian Government actively encourages mammograms every 2 years once you turn 50, it’s not like you turn 50 and suddenly *boom* now you are at risk. In fact approx. 20% of breast cancer diagnoses occur in women under that age.

And another thing I never knew - how to do a breast health check myself. No idea! I was never taught about it in health class at school, and while I kept meaning to ask my aunt, who is a nurse, I never got around to it. I figured there was no point doing it if I didn’t know how to do it right, so why bother? Sadly, it seems a lot of women around the world share that opinion. Thankfully though, two young women have decided to actually do something about it. Shefali Bohra and Debra Babalola (who worked alongside fellow students Himari Tamamura and Yukun Ge) are the co-founders of dotplot, an at-home breast health monitoring tool designed to make it a heck of a lot easier to perform self-checks. The small, portable, handheld device can be used to build a personalised map of your torso, track the areas that you have monitored and alert you to those areas you may have missed, and then record data and help monitor changes in breast tissue composition. While it isn’t available for purchase just yet, their invention received a huge boost recently when they won the UK leg of the James Dyson Award, granting them £5,000 to put towards their work. As Debra herself has said “Some people think that, oh, you know, women just don’t check their breast because they’re just not interested or they don’t care. But actually, a lot of the time it’s because they want to check but they’re just confused.” Amen, sister! And we thank Debra and Shefali from the bottom of our hearts for making it easier!

It is important to note that while self-checks are incredibly important they can only support, not replace, checks performed by medical professionals. However, a study conducted in 2021 sought to identify barriers that prevented women from seeking a professional breast cancer screening. The study states:

“Women in this study reported absence of symptoms, fatalistic beliefs and embarrassment during the procedure to be the primary reasons for reluctance to screen. Lack of general practitioner (GP) endorsement, transport issues and pain associated with the procedure were also reported as additional barriers to screening.”

And if I’m honest, ‘pain associated with the procedure’ is the one that hits home with me. If you’ve ever seen a video or photo of a mammogram… it doesn’t look like a pleasant experience! So let us now introduce a young mechanical engineer who not only aims to break down the socio-economic, cultural and accessibility barriers of breast-screening, but also make the whole experience more physically comfortable: University of Canterbury PhD student Jessica Fitzjohn. While working alongside medical professionals she designed a new method of screening that requires the patient to lay face down on a device which then vibrates at various frequencies while cameras capture images that can be analysed to detect possible tumours. It has proven to be just as effective as mammograms when it comes to detecting early-stage cancers and doesn’t require a skilled practitioner to operate it which could cut down on cost and make it more available to people in remote areas. I don’t know about you but if I had to choose between the version that sounds like a massage chair and the current one that looks more like a sandwich press… I know which one I’m going for.

Advancements in technology, access and public awareness have had a huge impact on breast cancer survival rates. Over the last 3 decades we have seen the five-year survival rates in Australia improve from 76% to 92%, and the likelihood of surviving ten-years passed a diagnosis is now 85%. And while the number of diagnosis of breast cancer is increasing in Australia, the number of deaths is on the decline. However, a report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare identified that the breast cancer survival rate is lower for women under the age of 40, and is significantly lower for women in the least socio-economically advantaged areas. Let’s hope that these new advancements, and the women behind them, can change that in the near future. Fingers crossed.

WHAT YOU KNOW NOW:

While breast cancer is most common in women over the age of 50, women and men under this age are also diagnosed with the disease
Survival rates are lower for women under 40 and those who live in lower socio-economically advantaged areas
Debra Babalola and Shefali Bohra have designed award-winning technology to make self-check at home easier to perform, aiding in early detection
Jessica Fitzjohn is designing a new method for detection that is more comfortable, accessible and cost effective than current technology

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