An 18-year-old student from Mexico has designed a bra that can help in the early detection of breast cancer and has won top prize at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA).
Julian Rios Cantu said he was inspired inspired by his mother’s battle with the disease which eventually lead to both her breasts being removed.
The bra, otherwise known as EVA, was developed with three friends through his company Higia Technologies, and was created primarily for women with genetic predisposition to cancer.
Equipped with around 200 biosensors, the bra maps the surface of the breast and is able to monitor changes in temperature, shape and weight.
“Why a bra? Because it allows us to have the breasts in the same position and it doesn’t have to be worn more than one hour a week,” he said in an interview with El Universal.
13 ways to help prevent cancer
+ show all 13 ways to help prevent cancer
1/13 Stopping smoking. This notoriously difficult habit to break sees tar build-up in the lungs and DNA alteration and causes 15,558 cancer deaths a year
2/13 Avoiding the sun, and the melanoma that comes with overexposure to harmful UV rays, could help conscientious shade-lovers dodge being one of the 7,220 people who die from it
3/13 A diet that is low in red meat can help to prevent bowel cancer, according to the research - with 30 grams a day recommended for men, and 25 a day recommended for women
4/13 Foods high in fibre, meanwhile, can further make for healthier bowels. Processed foods in developed countries appear to be causing higher rates of colon cancer than diets in continents such as Africa, which have high bean and pulse intakes
5/13 Two servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day were given as the magic number for good diet in the research. Overall, diet causes only slightly fewer cancer deaths than sun exposure in Australia, at 7,000 a year
6/13 Obesity and being overweight, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, causes 3,917 deaths by cancer a year on its own Getty
7/13 Dying of a cancer caused by infection also comes in highly, linked to 3,421 cancer deaths a year. Infections such as human papilloma virus - which can cause cervical cancer in women - and hepatitis - can be prevented by vaccinations and having regular check-ups
8/13 Cutting back on drinks could reduce the risk of cancers caused by alcohol - such as liver cancer, bowel cancer, breast cancer and mouth cancer - that are leading to 3,208 deaths a year 2014 Getty Images
9/13 Sitting around and not getting the heart pumping - less than one hour's exercise a day - is directly leading to about 1,800 people having lower immune functions and higher hormone levels, among other factors, that cause cancers 2011 Getty Images
10/13 Hormone replacement therapy, which is used to relieve symptoms of the menopause in women, caused 539 deaths from (mainly breast) cancer in Australia last year. It did, however, prevent 52 cases of colorectal cancers 2003 Getty Images
11/13 Insufficient breastfeeding, bizarrely, makes the top 10. Breastfeeding for 12 months could prevent 235 cancer cases a year, said the research AFP/Getty Images
12/13 Oral contraceptives, like the Pill, caused about 105 breast cancers and 52 cervical cancers - but it also prevented about 1,440 ovarian and uterine (womb) cases of cancer last year 2006 Getty Images
13/13 Taking aspirin also prevented 232 cases in the Queensland research of colorectal and oesophagal cancers - but as it can also cause strokes, is not yet recommended as a formal treatment against the risk of cancer
Rios Cantu says that the biosensors are able to determine thermal conductivity by specific zones. In some instances, heat can indicate more blood flow, which therefore indicates that those blood vessels are ‘feeding’ on something – typically some type of cancer.
“EVA is a network of biosensors that covers the woman’s breast, takes the temperature data, analyses them, and sends the information to an application or any computer,” Rios Cantu said, as quoted by Infobae.
“As soon as there is a malformation in the breast or a tumour, there is an over-vascularization; so to more [flow of] blood, the higher the temperature,” he added.
After beating 13 other student entrepreneurs from around the globe, Rios Cantu took home an impressive $20,000.
OTN on May 2nd, 2017 at 17:39 UTC »
Oncologist here. Cool project, cool inspiration, but the data on thermography (measuring of tempature differences in order to detect breast cancer) is not too good, unfortunately:
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/dr-christiane-northrup-and-breast-thermography-the-opportunistic-promotion-of-quackery/
Ben_zyl on May 2nd, 2017 at 17:38 UTC »
Vaguely worded click baity news headline that turns up every few years - http://www.healthnewsreview.org/2016/03/breast-cancer-detecting-bra-wont-go-away-and-the-news-coverage-is-still-sub-par
roastedbruh on May 2nd, 2017 at 16:28 UTC »
This article is making a mountain out of a molehill, as usual for any type of scientific reporting.
There are lots of pathologic and nonpathologic conditions that could cause the texture, size, and shape of the breast to change. So far, there's just the hand-waving explanation of "algorithms" to detect this. While I'm glad that there are young STEM-ers interested in the problem, the article and its author are outright being irresponsible in presenting this as a diagnostic, or even screening tool. It's impressive for a high schooler, sure. But, it is millions of dollars and decades away from being in the clinic, even if everything worked perfectly (which it never does).
Not surprisingly, this comes from the Independent, a "newspaper" that often sensationalizes everything that comes across the newswires to get views.
Source: A decade in cancer/breast cancer research. I work on MRI and CT imaging, clinically and in research settings.