It’s a big change in how cancer is being detected today. Compared to some high tech methods of for the detection of breast cancer, manual breast exams seem low-tech. Now scientists are developing a kind of “electronic skin” that “feels” and images small lumps that fingers can miss. Their work is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Knowing the size and shape of a lump could allow for earlier identification of breast cancer, which could save lives. The scientists describe their work, which they’ve tested on a breast model made of silicone, in the ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, a journal published by the American Chemical Society.
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.
…the device could also be used to screen patients for early signs of melanoma and other cancers…
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.
Ravi F. Saraf and Chieu Van Nguyen,researchers from the University of Nebraska, 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.
Commenting on the research so far, Saraf noted: “The device could also be used to screen patients for early signs of melanoma and other cancers.”
For more information:
Chieu Van Nguyen C and Ravi Saraf RF. Tactile Imaging of an Imbedded Palpable Structure for Breast Cancer Screening. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/am5046789 August 22, 2014 [Article]
Photo: 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. Photo courtesy: American Chemical Society.
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