iBreastExam: Low Cost, Point-of-Care Breast Health Test

UE Lifesciences, a company with offices in the U.S. and India, has developed the iBreastExam, a low-cost point-of-care breast health test for use by community workers in low resource settings. This device is designed to address the rising incidence of breast cancer in developing countries where women have limited or no access to breast cancer screening services. UE Lifesciences have featured on Medgadget previously, for their NoTouch BreastScan, an infrared scanner to detect breast cancer for use in a conventional clinical setting. However, the iBreastExam is their first point-of-care wireless scanner, designed to be highly portable and easy to use.

The test is painless and radiation free, and takes less than 5 minutes to complete. The device can be used by any doctor or health worker and the results are available at the point-of-care. iBreastExam assesses differences in tissue elasticity between malignant and non-cancerous breast tissue, and its tactile sensor measures shear stiffness and tissue compression when applied to the skin.

A clinical study conducted in India reported that the test maintained high specificity and outperformed an expert clinician who conducted a conventional clinical breast examination. All malignant lesions were identified by the device, while the clinician failed to identify a non-palpable lesion.

UE Lifesciences won the 2016 Hitlab world cup at the Hitlab Innovators Summit in New York for their iBreastExam system. This prize is awarded to a healthcare startup deemed to have made an outstanding contribution in improving the delivery and accessibility of healthcare worldwide.

Matthew Campisi, CTO of UE LifeSciences made the following statement:

“We are truly grateful to have won the HITLAB World Cup and to be part of such a terrific program. As we continue to scale our iBreastExam product offering, collaboration with partners like HITLAB will help create awareness and establish key partnerships.”