KOCHI: Of all the variants of cancer, the one which has the highest rate of incidence in India is breast cancer. And it is also the one that claims the most lives in India, the reason being that women are shy of getting themselves tested. However, a path-breaking device made by a team of scientists from Kerala will help women detect breast cancer in the very early stage minus the embarrassment they feel in going to a doctor. This very device also led A Seema, the chief investigating officer of the team, to be decorated with the Nari Shakti Puraskar, the highest civilian award for a woman, by the President of India recently. She was also awarded the National Award for Women's Development (NAWD) through the Application of Science and Technology.
According to A Seema, the device is a low-cost bra that can detect breast cancer right at the early stage. "A regular mammogram costs between Rs 1,500 and Rs 8,000 and also might have a side-effect since X-rays are used in imaging the tumour. Besides those who have taken a mammogram would try to avoid taking another since it is a painful process," she said. Since the bra is portable, it becomes an effective tool in the hands of every health worker or ASHA worker in the rural areas, she added. "Even young girls can wear it. The bra caters to all body types and can be worn by those as young as 15 or 20 years. In the case of mammograms, only women over 40 years can undergo screening," she said. According to Seema, her team of scientists have been working for the past four years to perfect the device. "At present, the image produced by the bra is a 2-D one. We are now working on a project that aims at improving the imaging. The aim is to produce a 3-D image since it will give the doctor a better understanding of the place and position of the tumour," she said.
According to MN Muralidharan, co-investigator, the device works by mapping the heat signature of the tumour. "Since the tumour cells multiply rapidly, a lot of blood vessels develop and the high metabolic rate produces a lot of o heat," he said. The device uses this heat signature to map the tumour, so no radiation is involved, he added.
Also, this instrument is much cheaper than a digital mammogram machine which costs about Rs 3.5 crore. "The wearable device costs between Rs 400 and Rs 500 and once commercialised it will cost just Rs 50, said Seema. According to her co-investigator, she is now working on a diverse number of projects some which include a super-capacitor for the defence and also a tiny thermal sensor for use in meteorological devices.