'Electronic skin' could improve early breast cancer detection

wallycat

 (I wonder if this would work for bilateral mastectomy patients to find local recurrence)...

Date:

September 10, 2014

Source:

American Chemical Society

Using a silicone
model of a breast and embedding objects representing lumps, scientists
have successfully tested an electronic skin that can accurately “feel”
and image lumps much smaller than those detectable by manual exams.

Credit: American Chemical Society

For detecting cancer, manual breast exams seem
low-tech compared to other methods such as MRI. But scientists are now
developing an "electronic skin" that "feels" and images small lumps that
fingers can miss. Knowing the size and shape of a lump could allow for
earlier identification of breast cancer, which could save lives. They
describe their device, which they've tested on a breast model made of
silicone, in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Ravi F. Saraf and Chieu Van Nguyen point out that early diagnosis of
breast cancer, the most common type of cancer among women, can help save
lives. But small masses of cancer cells are not always easy to catch.
Current testing methods, including MRI and ultrasounds, are sensitive
but expensive. Mammography is imperfect, especially when it comes to
testing young women or women with dense breast tissue. Clinical breast
exams performed by medical professionals as an initial screening step
are inexpensive, but typically don't find lumps until they're 21
millimeters in length, which is about four-fifths of an inch. Detecting
lumps and determining their shape when they're less than half that size
improves a patient's survival rate by more than 94 percent. Some devices
already mimic a manual exam, but their image quality is poor, and they
cannot determine a lump's shape, which helps doctors figure out whether a
tumor is cancerous. Saraf and Nguyen wanted to fill this gap.

Toward that end, they made a kind of electronic skin out of
nanoparticles and polymers that can detect, "feel" and image small
objects. To test how it might work on a human patient, they embedded
lump-like objects in a piece of silicone mimicking a breast and pressed
the device against this model with the same pressure a clinician would
use in a manual exam. They were able to image the lump stand-ins, which
were as little as 5 mm and as deep as 20 mm. Saraf says the device could
also be used to screen patients for early signs of melanoma and other
cancers.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by American Chemical Society. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:

1. Chieu Van Nguyen, Ravi F. Saraf. Tactile Imaging of an Imbedded Palpable Structure for Breast Cancer Screening. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2014; 140829090109002 DOI: 10.1021/am5046789