Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the United States for women. In 2008, the last year in which such data is available, 210,203 women in the United States were diagnosed with the disease, with 40,589 women succumbing to their illness.
One estimate says that 1 in 8 women will develop breast cancer during their lifetime. But, like most cancers, breast cancer is easier to fight when it is caught early. A company has developed a device that looks like a sports bra that should catch tumors far earlier than a traditional mammogram and cut the number of false positives that more conventional methods provide.
Currently, breast cancer screening typically relies on a mammogram, which uses high-tech imaging to locate the tumor. But, according to First Warning Systems, the test is generally ineffective in women younger than 40, who have denser breasts. That is a problem particularly because the tumors in younger women tend to grow at a faster rate than their older peers. Also, by the time tumors are located through traditional means, they have been growing for an average of 12 years.
A new bra currently being developed by First Warning Systems aims to change all of that. In what could revolutionize breast cancer screenings, the device is worn like a sports bra, and measures minute changes in breast temperature to determine the existence of a tumor. It may sound like science fiction, but the company has already tested the device for sensitivity and accuracy in three tests, examining 650 women. It was able to detect cancer as much as six years earlier than a mammogram could. If it nets similarly successful results in a final clinical trial, it could be on the market in Europe as early as next year.
The company's video can be found below.