Mammograms involve placing one breast at a time between two plates that compress and spread breast tissue, causing discomfort for many women. A newly developed robotic device has been designed to mimic manual breast palpations, enabling doctors to record accurate data about the underlying tissue. This could serve not as a replacement for mammography, but as an affordable, effective supplemental tool to aid early detection of breast cancer.
This new approach to the manual breast exam process takes advantage of the fact that cancerous tissues can be as much as 10 times stiffer than healthy tissues. Mammograms use X-rays, which are only sensitive to tissue density, not stiffness. In contrast, this new system aims to automate and refine the manual breast exam process, by using a combination of mathematical techniques and simulations to generate accurate results that present a better picture that represents the variations in tissue stiffness.
The new exam would look something like this: A woman lies on an exam table and a ring is placed around her breast; a robotic arm then performs the breast exam and measures how much force it takes and how much the tissue moves. For now, the inventors are running simulations of the process to see if they generate accurate results. They are now working on speeding up their algorithm's ability to solve problems by a factor of two, and aim to improve the “fitness function” on their measured data to determine the best way to perform the tests at a clinical level.
The inventors hope that this new test will become an inexpensive, routine exam performed painlessly and harmlessly as part of an annual checkup even for relatively young women, facilitating the likelihood of early detection, when breast cancer is most treatable.
Also: A radiation-free breast cancer detection device may benefit women in developing countries.
