Researchers From Colombia's Universidad Nacional Develop Bra That Can Detect Breast Cancer

A team of researchers from Universidad Nacional in Colombia have created a bra that could help detect cancer. The mechanism would work through temperature fluctuations, which occur with the presence of anomalous cells. The innovative creation looks to create yet another system of early detection, which can become a matter of life and death when the disease is treated. Member of the research team Mariana Camila Cortes Arcila explained why the temperature rises: “When cells foreign to the mammary glands are present, the body requires more blood to circulate in the area where the invasive cells are.”

The bra monitors information through an integrated software and records both breasts’ temperatures via two infrared sensors. The new product has been tested by students from a university in central Colombia on 189 women, of whom 166 were healthy. The 12 that showed temperature fluctuations indicating some kind of pathology other than cancer, seven had undergone a mastectomy and four of them had cancer.

It's important to know that healthy breast tissue, has a wide range of fluctuations within a 24-hour period, but malignant breast tissue normally maintains a more or less even temperature throughout the same window of time. Researchers were very clear they are not trying to do physicians’ jobs or trying to substitute other types of screenings, but that this could be an excellent prevention tool, which they are looking to develop it at an affordable price for the public.