An Ultrasound Bra Could Spot Breast Cancer Early

When breast cancer is caught in the early stages, the survival rate is almost 100%. Unfortunately, when tumors are detected in later stages, that rate plummets to around 25%.

Canan Dagdeviren, an associate professor in Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media lab, had an aunt who was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer at the age of 49—despite having regular screenings for cancer—and passed away six months later. Dagdaviren was then a postdoc at MIT. It was at her aunt’s bedside that she drew up the first schematic for a diagnostic device that could be integrated into a bra and might enable more frequent screening of those at a higher risk for breast cancer.

Together with MIT graduate student Wenya Du, Research Scientist Lin Zhang, Emma Suh, and Dabin Lin, a professor at Xi’an Technological University, Dagdeviren created a wearable ultrasound device that could help to detect breast tumors at their early stages. They recently authored a paper in the journal Science Advances documenting the benefits of the “ultrasound bra.”

The device itself is a flexible patch that can be attached to a bra so the wearer can move an ultrasound tracker along the patch and image the breast tissue from a variety of angles. The new study demonstrated that the researchers could generate ultrasound images that had resolution comparable to ultrasound probes used in medical imaging centers.

The technology could be particularly valuable for patients at high risk of developing breast cancer in between their routine mammograms.

“We changed the form factor of the ultrasound technology so that it can be used in your home. It’s portable and easy to use, and provides real-time, user-friendly monitoring of breast tissue,” Dagdeviren told MIT News.

Breast tumors that develop in between regularly scheduled mammograms are known as interval cancers. They account for 20-30% of all breast cancer cases, and those tumors are typically more aggressive than those that are found during routine mammograms.

“My goal is to target the people who are most likely to develop interval cancer,” said Dagdeviren, whose research group specializes in developing wearable electronic devices that conform to the body. “With more frequent screening, our goal is to increase the survival rate to up to 98 percent.”

To make the vision a reality, Dagdeviren engineered a miniaturized ultrasound scanner that could let the user perform imaging at any time. She said the scanner is based on the same ultrasound technology currently used in medical imaging centers, but it differs in that it uses a novel, piezoelectric material that permitted the researchers to miniaturize the ultrasound scanner.

In order to make the device wearable and comfortable, the research team designed a flexible, 3D-printed patch with honeycomb-like openings. Using magnets, the patch can be secured to a bra that has openings to allow the ultrasound scanner to contact the skin. The scanner fits inside a small tracker that can be adjusted to six different positions so the whole breast can be imaged.

The scanner can also be rotated to gather images from different angles. The researchers said the device doesn’t need any special expertise to operate.

“This technology provides a fundamental capability in the detection and early diagnosis of breast cancer, which is key to a positive outcome,” said Anantha Chandrakasan, dean of MIT’s School of Engineering, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and one of the authors of the study. “This work will significantly advance ultrasound research and medical device designs, leveraging advances in materials, low-power circuits, AI algorithms, and biomedical systems.”

The researchers, partnering with the MIT Center for Clinical and Translational Research, tested their device on a 71-year-old woman with a history of breast cysts. Using the ultrasound bra, the cysts—which were as small as 0.3 centimeters in diameter, the size of early-stage tumors—could be detected. The device was also shown to achieve resolution comparable to traditional ultrasound and that tissue could be imaged at a depth of up to eight centimeters.

To see the ultrasound images, the ultrasound bra currently must be connected to the same sort of ultrasound machine used in imaging centers. The researchers said they’re now working on a miniaturized iteration of the imaging system that could potentially be the size of a smartphone.

The wearable ultrasound patch can also be used repeatedly, and the researchers believe it could be used at home by those at high risk for breast cancer and could benefit from frequent screening.

It may also help diagnose breast cancer in those without consistent access to screening.

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and it is treatable when detected early,” said Tolga Ozmen, a breast cancer surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital who is also an author of the study.
“One of the main obstacles in imaging and early detection is the commute that the women have to make to an imaging center. This conformable ultrasound patch is a highly promising technology as it eliminates the need for women to travel to an imaging center.”

The researchers also aim to develop a way to use artificial intelligence to analyze how the images change over time to offer more accurate diagnostics. They also plan to adapt the ultrasound technology to scan other parts of the body.