Makerere University students develop breast cancer detecting technology

October is viewed globally as the breast cancer awareness month and it is in regards to this that a group of three students from Makerere University in Uganda have developed a new technology that detects breast cancer cells and stops the spread of the disease.

According to The Daily Monitor, the technology was developed by Atwine, 22, together with his colleagues, Alvin Kabwama, a fourth year electric engineering student and David Mwesigwa, a third year computer science student. The three decided to come up with the technology to ease cancer diagnosis mostly in people with a family history of the disease.

“Looking at the risk factors that lead to breast cancer, family history is one of the breast cancer causes. By developing this technology and smart mobile phone application, it could stop the spread of cancer in our family,” Atwine says.

He adds that his grandfather succumbed to breast cancer in 2012 and in September 2014 that’s when the breast cancer technology dubbed: “Breast IT” was developed.

Currently the technology is being subjected to clinical trials across the country.

“We have so far done one trial at the Uganda Cancer Institute and depending on the results received, we have to improve on the accuracy of the software,” says Atwine.

He adds that the technology has registered 55 per cent efficacy and there are hopes of achieving 70 per cent accuracy by the end of year.

The Breast IT team is currently working with the Uganda Communications Commission to ensure that they meet the standards after winning a grant worth $5000 at this year’s Annual Communication Innovation Awards (ACIA) held in Kampala.

“We won the ICT for development category award and we are planning to have village booths where we can have very many people screened and tested for breast cancer in a short time,” says Atwine.

The innovators are working with the Uganda Industrial Research Institute to (UIRI) design the Breast IT technology into a final and improved medical diagnostic product.

“We have also exhibited the Breast IT technology at the annual Mozilla Festival which was graced by President Museveni,” says Atwine, adding that the President pledged to support one of their innovations, the malaria app.

According to Atwine, who is the leader of the project, the complete set of their product will cost about $450 (Shs1.5million) after it has met the various safety standards both local and international.

BreastIT is a mobile phone application designed for windows phone that carries out timely diagnosis of breast cancer using the information relayed to it by the “Hyphen glove” which is the hardware connected to windows phone.

The glove is made up of piezoelectric crystals that are attached at the top of the palm. These crystals generate ultrasound that scans the inner part of the breast, gets images which are later sent to phone via Bluetooth for diagnosis.

Diagnosis is one of the main features of the app and once a user selects this functionality, he or she is prompted to start. Once one chooses the start option, the hyphen glove is turned on. A user must be wearing the glove by time it is turned on, then one can gently place in front of the breast of the patient, hover around to get a clear picture of the inside.

This picture is generated by the crystals through ultrasound. After a clear picture is obtained, it is saved in phone’s database and phone gives results basing on the conclusive analysis it does and user can upload them to the one drive for safer storage or for purposes of sharing the results with the radiologist.

Additionally, BreastIT shows you how to go about checking your breasts with a handy video, plus you will be able to find out how your lifestyle could affect your risk of getting breast cancer. BreastIT also offers information about different radiologists within your area or country, hence making it easy for user to get any medical advice from them.

“The software has a data base of different images so the images come from the glove to phone where they are analysed thus giving the results which appear on a smartphone screen,” says Atwine.

He adds that the hardware glove was designed and developed by their colleague, Kabwama, who hatched the idea from scratch due to his background in electric engineering.

“After the results are ready, they can be viewed and used by a radiotherapist or cancer specialist to determine the next move after interpreting them” says Atwine as he demonstrated how the glove is rotated around the breasts.

As far as delivering diagnosis, the Breast IT developers hope that the technology will help reduce the time patients spend waiting for results and also cut on transport costs incurred while seeking for cancer treatment and care.

In addition to performing the screening function, the mobile phone app also provides visual illustrations on how to conduct a self-breast examination. It also provides information on the risk factors for cancer and how to avoid them.

The innovators believe that the Breast IT technology is needed as soon as possible to ease breast cancer treatment in Uganda for early detection since the major challenge remains late detection emerging out of diagnostic equipment absence.