Smart Bra Promises to Beat Mammogram in Detecting Breast Cancer
A Smart Bra, named a BSE (Breast Self Exam) bra, that can detect cancer better than a mammogram has been invented. The product is said to be 90 percent accurate, claimed by its manufacturer, First Warning Systems, Inc. The company, based in Reno, Nevada, is hopeful that the product will meet FDA approval and that it can hit the market within a year.
Breast cancer is the number one cause of women’s deaths that are cancer-related. This is true even in developing and developed countries. Of all types of cancer, it is also the most commonly diagnosed. But if found in the early stages, there is about 80 percent survival rate. The First Warning Systems would like to make breast cancer detection earlier so they manufactured the Smart Bra. The product contains 16 sensors in its cups where heat patterns are measured and knows if there is even a slight variation in the shape and surface of the breasts that may be indicative of tumor growth.
You only have to wear this Smart Bra for about 12 hours in a day and breast cancer screening is done. If there’s growth in cancer cell-related blood vessels it will be easily known. This is a non-invasive screening which is more accurate and earlier than mammogram, according to First Warning Systems. Mammogram is currently the standard for detecting breast cancer, but the system has its own issues, says experts, and its method for screening cancer may not be perfect.
However some reports say that the dependence of this special cancer detection bra on heat patterns or breast tissue temperature is similar to a method used in the past that had no positive results. This method is called “thermography”, and it failed to beat mammogram x-rays when used years ago. First Warning Systems refute this claim, saying that the Smart Bra is very much different from thermography. The latter depends on creating temperature “maps” at a time, while the Smart Bra technology analyzes the changes in temperature over the surface of a woman’s breasts in half of a day, or 12 hours.
Additional information has been provided by the First Warning Systems, saying that special computer software has been created. It can recognize and remember the patterns of various cancer cases that have been known. These patterns can provide medical doctors with the probabilities of existing cancer cells. There’s an advantage in using the computer because it has the ability to integrate additional data in the analysis, and its memory is perfect. Examples of additional data include age, family history, and some other information. Radiologists can’t do what the First Warning Systems can, the company says.
Once the BSE or Smart Bra gets approved by the FDA and becomes ready for market, it will likely be released through a doctor’s prescription. How about calling it a “prescription bra”? Awesome to hear, isn’t it? Meanwhile all we got to do is to wait for additional announcements and reviews by potential users about its effectiveness.