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Stay up-to-date with our research, press and newsletter updatesBreast Checks Get a High-Tech Makeover
Competition at a Glance: How Emerging Innovators Align with and Enspire Dotplot’s Mission
Breast checks are getting a glow-up. A wave of new innovators are stepping into the spotlight. From AI-powered imaging to smart home-monitoring tools, the landscape is shifting fast, all in the direction of making breast health more accessible, proactive, and personalised. What’s especially exciting is how many of these breakthroughs echo Dotplot’s own mission: empowering people to understand their bodies, monitor changes with confidence, and catch potential issues earlier. In this quick look around the competitive horizon, we explore the emerging technologies reshaping breast health, and how they’re helping build the future Dotplot has always believed in.
Breast checks are getting a glow-up. A wave of new innovators are stepping into the spotlight. From AI-powered imaging to smart home-monitoring tools, the landscape is shifting fast, all in the direction of making breast health more accessible, proactive, and personalised. What’s especially exciting is how many of these breakthroughs echo Dotplot’s own mission: empowering people to understand their bodies, monitor changes with confidence, and catch potential issues earlier. In this quick look around the competitive horizon, we explore the emerging technologies reshaping breast health, and how they’re helping build the future Dotplot has always believed in.
Wearable Ultrasound
Imagine a breast check as simple as measuring your blood pressure. One of the most exciting breakthroughs comes from MIT, where engineers designed a soft, flexible ultrasound patch that slips into a bra and lets women scan their own breast tissue at home. Unlike standard ultrasound probes, this patch uses a phased-array transducer, a grid of tiny ultrasound elements that fire in patterns to create high-resolution images up to several centimeters deep. Remarkably, it achieved clinical-grade imaging, detecting abnormalities as small as a few millimeters while users simply applied gentle pressure with their fingertips. The motivation behind such innovation is powerful: when breast cancer is found early, survival approaches nearly 100%, but when found late, it can drop to around 25%. Making high-quality imaging available at home could radically shift those odds.
Imagine a breast check as simple as measuring your blood pressure. One of the most exciting breakthroughs comes from MIT, where engineers designed a soft, flexible ultrasound patch that slips into a bra and lets women scan their own breast tissue at home. Unlike standard ultrasound probes, this patch uses a phased-array transducer, a grid of tiny ultrasound elements that fire in patterns to create high-resolution images up to several centimeters deep. Remarkably, it achieved clinical-grade imaging, detecting abnormalities as small as a few millimeters while users simply applied gentle pressure with their fingertips. The motivation behind such innovation is powerful: when breast cancer is found early, survival approaches nearly 100%, but when found late, it can drop to around 25%. Making high-quality imaging available at home could radically shift those odds.
Smart Fabric
Beyond ultrasound, smart fabrics are popping up. A 2024 review of emerging breast-health technologies highlights thermal imaging textiles, where micro-sensors track tiny temperature differences in breast tissue. Tumours tend to recruit new blood vessels and increase local heat, a phenomenon called angiogenesis, which thermal sensors can detect even before a mass becomes large enough for a mammogram to spot. Some studies suggest thermography may identify suspicious patterns years earlier than X-ray imaging, particularly in people under 40 or those with dense breast tissue. Engineers are now experimenting with bras, vests, and camisoles lined with infrared thermistors or microwave antennas that map breast tissue in real time. These systems don’t rely on compression or radiation, just heat signatures or gentle radio-frequency scattering, to flag early changes women might never feel by hand.
Beyond ultrasound, smart fabrics are popping up. A 2024 review of emerging breast-health technologies highlights thermal imaging textiles, where micro-sensors track tiny temperature differences in breast tissue. Tumours tend to recruit new blood vessels and increase local heat, a phenomenon called angiogenesis, which thermal sensors can detect even before a mass becomes large enough for a mammogram to spot. Some studies suggest thermography may identify suspicious patterns years earlier than X-ray imaging, particularly in people under 40 or those with dense breast tissue. Engineers are now experimenting with bras, vests, and camisoles lined with infrared thermistors or microwave antennas that map breast tissue in real time. These systems don’t rely on compression or radiation, just heat signatures or gentle radio-frequency scattering, to flag early changes women might never feel by hand.
Inclusive Innovation
In the UK, researchers at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Glasgow are developing a fully digital electronic-textile smart bra to support women who are underserved by current screening systems, including women with intellectual disabilities. The bra embeds conductive yarns and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) sensors that measure how easily electrical currents pass through breast tissue. Because cancerous tissue contains less water and more cells, it has a higher electrical resistance than normal breast tissue, making it detectable through subtle shifts in impedance. Early trials suggest this smart bra may detect lumps as small as 5 mm, about the size of a pea. The system then transmits encrypted data to carers or clinicians via a smartphone app, turning everyday clothing into a discreet continuous-monitoring device.
In the UK, researchers at Nottingham Trent University and the University of Glasgow are developing a fully digital electronic-textile smart bra to support women who are underserved by current screening systems, including women with intellectual disabilities. The bra embeds conductive yarns and electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) sensors that measure how easily electrical currents pass through breast tissue. Because cancerous tissue contains less water and more cells, it has a higher electrical resistance than normal breast tissue, making it detectable through subtle shifts in impedance. Early trials suggest this smart bra may detect lumps as small as 5 mm, about the size of a pea. The system then transmits encrypted data to carers or clinicians via a smartphone app, turning everyday clothing into a discreet continuous-monitoring device.
A Forward View
All these wearables aim to make breast checks comfy and routine. Europe is also pushing ahead with microwave imaging wearables, where breast tissue is scanned using ultra-low-power electromagnetic waves. Finnish researchers testing these devices compare the experience to “measuring blood pressure,” but for the chest. Microwave imaging works by sending signals into the breast and analyzing how different tissues scatter or absorb the waves, essentially creating a dielectric map of the breast. Healthy fatty tissue responds differently from dense tissue, cysts, or tumors, allowing for fast, radiation-free imaging. Several prototypes have reached early clinical trials, and preliminary findings show promise in detecting tumors in dense breasts, a known blind spot for mammography. Because microwave scans take just seconds and require no compression, researchers believe they could greatly expand access for people who avoid screening due to discomfort, distance, anxiety, or mobility barriers.
Taken together, ultrasound patches, thermal wearables, impedance bras, and microwave vests, are redefining what a breast check can be. They’re designed to be comfortable, quick, and private, while still offering clinically meaningful insight. By sending data straight to clinicians, they could bridge gaps for women in rural areas, those with busy schedules, and those who struggle with traditional mammograms. The future of breast health is shifting from clinic-only to home-enabled, transforming a once-occasional scan into a simple, empowering habit embedded into everyday life.
All these wearables aim to make breast checks comfy and routine. Europe is also pushing ahead with microwave imaging wearables, where breast tissue is scanned using ultra-low-power electromagnetic waves. Finnish researchers testing these devices compare the experience to “measuring blood pressure,” but for the chest. Microwave imaging works by sending signals into the breast and analyzing how different tissues scatter or absorb the waves, essentially creating a dielectric map of the breast. Healthy fatty tissue responds differently from dense tissue, cysts, or tumors, allowing for fast, radiation-free imaging. Several prototypes have reached early clinical trials, and preliminary findings show promise in detecting tumors in dense breasts, a known blind spot for mammography. Because microwave scans take just seconds and require no compression, researchers believe they could greatly expand access for people who avoid screening due to discomfort, distance, anxiety, or mobility barriers.
Taken together, ultrasound patches, thermal wearables, impedance bras, and microwave vests, are redefining what a breast check can be. They’re designed to be comfortable, quick, and private, while still offering clinically meaningful insight. By sending data straight to clinicians, they could bridge gaps for women in rural areas, those with busy schedules, and those who struggle with traditional mammograms. The future of breast health is shifting from clinic-only to home-enabled, transforming a once-occasional scan into a simple, empowering habit embedded into everyday life.