Sponsored By
Karen Laird

October 4, 2016

3 Min Read
At home screening, a game changer for breast cancer diagnosis?

Braster SA is a Poland-based company specialized in bio diagnostics and testing that has developed a non-invasive and relatively inexpensive new method to visualize and detect the early stages of breast cancer. The Braster tester works by producing a thermographic image of the breast, which is used to identify potential tumors at an early stage in their development. The image created by the hand-held tester appears on a liquid crystal display, which shows temperature changes in a breast - a possible indication of early-stage tumors.

The patented device is made up of three film matrices covered with a liquid crystal mixture that change color under the influence of heat, which makes it possible for the screen to display color images of any hot spots. Liquid crystals are chemical compounds which combine the properties and characteristics of the liquid crystalline solids.

High matrix resolution and accuracy of imaging of temperature anomalies on the surface of the breast, combined with an appropriate calibration at each 0.5 °C, make it easy to read the result.

The Braster tester is the first device for early, non-invasive detection of breast cancer in women. The device is used together with an app that guides women through the examination and tracks the results. These are subsequently relayed to Braster and analyzed with the help of proprietary algorithms by Braster medical specialists. The product is intended as an extra method of detecting breast cancer at home, not as a replacement for standard medical methods, Braster emphasizes.

Braster was founded in 2008 by a group of five Polish scientists led by Dr. Jecek Stępień and Dr. Henryk Jaremek. The Braster tester was created as a result of a collaboration between a research team led by the two Braster founders and scientists from the Warsaw Military University of Technology. Braster worked closely with Pezy Group, a product design and innovation agency based in the Netherlands, on the development and roll out of the technology. According to Joop Onnekink, senior consultant at Pezy Group, the collaboration was a marked success: “We went from defining the most promising concepts to the release of a certified product ready for manufacturing in just 12 months,” he commented. “By bringing in all our knowledge about materials, injection molding and molds during the design stage, we could come with a design which was beautiful, functional and robust to produce. The molds ran correctly almost from the first time with very few changes.”

The Braster tester has the potential to save the lives of thousands of women around the world. It is completely safe for the patient as it does not use harmful radiation; it is painless non-invasive and there are no limits to testing frequency, thus potentially boosting the success rate in early detection of breast cancer markers. According to Onnekink, the device is simple to use and, importantly: “The aim is to keep it affordable.”

The first phase of the launch of the device – mid 2016 - is directed at medical specialists in the UK, Germany and Poland followed by the USA, France and the Netherlands. The next market launch phase will also cover the consumer channel in six reference countries: USA, UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Poland. These markets have been targeted first as most promising.

Breast cancer is one of the most frequent malignant tumors in women, representing approx. 25.2% of all diagnosed cancer cases. In 2012, more than 1.7 million breast cancer cases were diagnosed worldwide and the global GLOBOCAN research prognoses continued growth of the incidence by the end of this decade. The largest morbidity rates in Europe are found in Germany (71,600), France (54,200) and UK (52,400). The number of new cases diagnosed in Poland in 2012 was 16,500. More than 5,000 Polish women die from malignant breast cancers every year.

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