Checking breast cancer
scottish researchers have developed a heat-sensitive bra with an electronic memory chip that can successfully detect premenopausal breast cancer. The Chronobra was developed by Hugh W. Simpson, pathologist at the Royal Infirmary at Glasgow, who claims that it can be an alternative to Mammography.
Simpson speculates that the breast temperature patterns are quite different in women with occult breast cancer, or who are at a risk of this disease, than in normal women. Mamography tests currently employed to detect the disease often give false positive results. Moreover, the need for a radiation-free technique for universal use drove Simpson to develop the Chronobra. If the initial studies of the bra go well, it can be used to complement the usual Mammographic tests, reducing the need for open biopsies, needle aspiration biopsies and the like. Another advantage of using the Chronobra is that while Mammography often misses leisons less than a centimetre in size, Simpson's bra detects these through the temperature patterns. Tumours require new blood vessels to nourish them and the heat generated in the process helps the Chronobra to detect such formations.