Latest from Dotplot
Stay up-to-date with our research, press and newsletter updatesBreast Checks Get a High-Tech Makeover
10th Dec 2025
by Dotplot
by Dotplot
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. Engineers at MIT are racing to make that a reality, by building a soft ultrasound patch that fits onto a bra so women can scan their own breast tissue at home. The motivation is huge - catching cancer early is life-saving. Survival is nearly 100% when tumours are spotted very early, but drops to ~25% in late-stage cancers. This wearable patch, along with other mini ultrasound devices, achieved medical-grade image quality comparable to clinical machines. This makes the possibility of home-screening real, in a practical and painless form-factor.
Imagine a breast check as simple as measuring your blood pressure. Engineers at MIT are racing to make that a reality, by building a soft ultrasound patch that fits onto a bra so women can scan their own breast tissue at home. The motivation is huge - catching cancer early is life-saving. Survival is nearly 100% when tumours are spotted very early, but drops to ~25% in late-stage cancers. This wearable patch, along with other mini ultrasound devices, achieved medical-grade image quality comparable to clinical machines. This makes the possibility of home-screening real, in a practical and painless form-factor.
Smart Fabric
Beyond ultrasound, smart fabrics are popping up. A 2024 review highlights tiny thermal sensors sewn into wearables that could detect heat changes from tumours. In fact, studies suggest thermography (measuring skin heat) might flag abnormalities years before a mammogram would. Engineers imagine a bra or camisole lined with thermal patches or microwave antennas that spot tumours as they grow. These sensor-equipped garments are non-invasive and don’t use radiation, just gentle radio or heat sensing. They could even catch cancers in dense breasts that mammograms sometimes miss.
Beyond ultrasound, smart fabrics are popping up. A 2024 review highlights tiny thermal sensors sewn into wearables that could detect heat changes from tumours. In fact, studies suggest thermography (measuring skin heat) might flag abnormalities years before a mammogram would. Engineers imagine a bra or camisole lined with thermal patches or microwave antennas that spot tumours as they grow. These sensor-equipped garments are non-invasive and don’t use radiation, just gentle radio or heat sensing. They could even catch cancers in dense breasts that mammograms sometimes miss.
Inclusive Innovation
In the UK, designers at Nottingham Trent University and Glasgow are developing an ‘electronic textile’ smart bra specifically to help women with intellectual disabilities, who are often left out of screening programs. Its conductive threads and electrodes can sense tiny tissue differences. It can do this because tumours are usually denser and less watery than healthy tissue, resulting in a change to the bra’s baseline electrical signal. Researchers report it could detect lumps as small as 5 milimetres - thats under the size of a pea. The device sends a smartphone alert to carers and doctors, turning a normal bra into a discreet, live-monitoring cancer detector.
In the UK, designers at Nottingham Trent University and Glasgow are developing an ‘electronic textile’ smart bra specifically to help women with intellectual disabilities, who are often left out of screening programs. Its conductive threads and electrodes can sense tiny tissue differences. It can do this because tumours are usually denser and less watery than healthy tissue, resulting in a change to the bra’s baseline electrical signal. Researchers report it could detect lumps as small as 5 milimetres - thats under the size of a pea. The device sends a smartphone alert to carers and doctors, turning a normal bra into a discreet, live-monitoring cancer detector.
A Forward View
All these wearables aim to make breast checks comfy and routine. Finnish researcher Mariella Sarestoniemi, who is testing microwave antenna vests for breast scans, notes that ‘the procedure is intended to be as easy and quick as measuring blood pressure’. Early tests are promising: in Europe, microwave bra-like devices are already in clinical trials, and because these gadgets send data to doctors automatically, women wouldn’t need to travel far ot sit through the squeeze of a mammogram. Taken together, smart bras and patches are bringing the lab to the bedroom, putting gentle, quick checks right into women’s hands.
All these wearables aim to make breast checks comfy and routine. Finnish researcher Mariella Sarestoniemi, who is testing microwave antenna vests for breast scans, notes that ‘the procedure is intended to be as easy and quick as measuring blood pressure’. Early tests are promising: in Europe, microwave bra-like devices are already in clinical trials, and because these gadgets send data to doctors automatically, women wouldn’t need to travel far ot sit through the squeeze of a mammogram. Taken together, smart bras and patches are bringing the lab to the bedroom, putting gentle, quick checks right into women’s hands.