Enhancing Dotplot’s capability of observing physical and mechanical characteristics of breast tissues whilst women conduct self-checks at-home to generate breast health reports that are beneficial for healthcare professionals in a primary care environment

Innovation Dotplot is an at-home breast health monitoring tool.

It combines a handheld-device and app, providing personalised real-time guidance during breast self-checks and recording breast tissues properties, to monitor changes over time. Problem Breast self-checks facilitate early-detection but 47% women (YouGov,2020) do not check their breasts regularly. Existing guidance (pamphlets and videos) all propose different methods.

Scope alignment An early warning system for breast cancer that evaluates various breast tissue physical characteristics, to help primary care settings with patient triaging (ESF s TIER B-Health and care diaries). Dotplot (non-diagnostic) will only recommend users to approach primary care as an abnormality is flagged.

Evidence Breast cancer displays variations in physical properties relative to healthy tissue, with sufficient contrast and accessibility to be feasibly measured using an at-home handheld device.

Chief among these are the differences in mechanical properties, including higher density, higher stiffness (Samani et al., 2007), reduced mobility, and an irregular texture. These differences have already been leveraged in existing imaging modalities (mammography, ultrasound).

However, there is a growing body of evidence suggesting more primitive sensing modalities, namely force sensor arrays (Olson et al., 2021) and vibro-acoustography (Fatemi et al., 2003), can be combined to provide an accurate assessment of breast health. Development (TRL-3) Current technology - sound filtration with acoustic bands (patent-pending PCT:WO 2023/139394).

We have built a secondary array of force sensors, to be combined, prior to the project to enhance our capability to study more parameters than just tissue stiffness.

Public Input (2023) Viability + commercialisation potential: Usability-test with 82 women to gain feedback on the proposed interaction. 200 interviews across customer segments, including 52 high-risk women. These highlighted the urgency for Dotplot and confirmed that it would offer reassurance. Interviews with 20 HCPs involved in the delivery of breast cancer treatment to validate gaps Dotplot could fill