Most women have heard of, and many of us have tried, just about every new bra that comes out on the market. Many of these bras make a wealth of promises. They can push-up, they can support, they can add a full cup size and they can minimize.
Some bras claim to lift and separate your breasts. Now there is a new bra called The First Warning Systems Bra that declares itself to be a new breast cancer detection tool that can discern healthy breast tissue from unhealthy breast tissue, thus being able to detect breast cancer in its early stages.
The Details
The First Warning System Bra is said to be able to identify breast cancer in the early stages. The thought is that the bra continuously monitors the temperature changes that occur in breast tissue. Certain temperature changes in breast tissue can be linked to tumor growth.
This claim, if true, is an amazing advancement in the early detection and treatment of breast cancer.
The Technology
The First Warning Systems Bra is constructed of a series of sensors. The use of heat in abnormal tissue detection is called thermography or thermogram technology. These sensors are fixed within the cups of the bra’s structure. It is the sensors job to detect changes in breast tissue temperature. When abnormal heat patterns are detected, a signal is sent to alert the doctors, suggesting the possible existence of cancer cells.
With the use of heat sensors the manufacturers at First Warning Systems claim that their bra can detect cancer in its earliest stages, before a mass or tumor is present. But the question is, does this new technology really work and is it better than the traditional methods of cancer screening and detection used today?
Clinical Trials
Three independent clinical trials were conducted involving 650 women. The manufacturers of The First Warning Systems Bra boast that the heat sensor technology within the bra was able to discover tumors nearly 6 years sooner than conventional breast imaging. The temperature change technology claims to have a success rate of about 90 percent with regard to accuracy of identifying normal, abnormal, suspected abnormal and benign breast tissue. Standard mammograms have approximately a 70 percent accuracy rate in similar categories.
Does The Heat Sensitive Bra Work?
If Its Claim Is True
If The First Warning Systems Bra actually works the way the manufacturers claim that it does, it could be an incredible breakthrough in the world of breast cancer detection and treatment.
This new heat-seeking technology may be a highly effective alternative to the traditional mammogram, especially for those women who choose to avoid the radiation that is associated with mammogram technology and for those women who have dense or generally uneven or bumpy breast tissue. Additionally, this new technology may be an effective option for women younger than 40 because mammograms tend to not be very accurate in screening younger breasts.
An Expert Weighs In
Dr. Deanna J. Attai, a spokesperson for the American Society of Breast Surgeons, is skeptical. Attai states that while the new technology appears promising, she is not going to be recommending it just yet. Attai suggests that there is a need for more research studies performed over longer periods of time to compare this new technology to the current screening methods that are used to detect breast cancer.
Once more research is done, the reliability of the heat sensor can be better determined. Attai also states that thermogram technology, such as that used in The First Warning Systems Bra, has been known to yield a lot of false positive and its results do not often correlate with the results of other means. This suggests that thermogram technology may not always detect cancer tissue, but other methods such as MRI and mammogram would.
Is Thermogram Technology Truly Valuable?
Perhaps not. The technology utilized with The First Warning Systems Bra may very well suggest that cancer tissue is present, but what next? Chances are that to get a truly precise picture, other methods of technology would need to be utilized. In that case, the value of the bra plummets and just adds additional expense and time. Some suggest it may be wiser to stick with the current screening methods until a more precise form of thermogram technology is available.
The Manufacturer’s Counter Claim
First Warning’s chief of operations, Matt Bernardis, begs to differ. Bernardis suggests that the technology utilized with the bra is a considerable improvement over the standard technology currently being used. The thermograph technology utilized in the bra takes a series of pictures in succession of changes in temperature overtime, rather than just once. Ideally, the bra would be used to begin scanning breasts at age 18 and continue over a series of time, tracking changes.
A Similar Point Of View
Bernardis continued to tout this new technology, but suggested that it should be used as an early detection tool and that once any changes were noted, a doctor should follow-up with other standard diagnostic testing. This thought was precisely Attai’s point, so the view in the end is similar.
While The First Warning Systems Bra is a good idea in theory, experts are skeptical as to its value. Women are cautioned not to use the bra as a replacement for traditional diagnostic testing or screenings. The manufacturers of the bra claim that it can identify changes in tissue almost 6 years before a tumor would be detected, which is an amazing breakthrough in detection, however, skeptics wonder if it is really possible. In the end, it is best to say that the bra probably needs to be researched further and overtime. Early detection of breast cancer is the best defense and yields the most successful treatment, so any advancement in early detection is a win. The First Warning Systems Bra will begin selling in Europe in 2013, it is expected to cost about $200.
Sources & Links
- Photo courtesy of First Warning Systems, Inc. Photo courtesy of khrawlings on Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/khrawlings/5121278274