Breast cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. More prevalent in women than men, breast cancer deaths can be reduced by regular self-checks and early medical interventions. However, regular breast self-exams can become tricky when women don’t know how to do them or don’t understand the changes in breast tissue.
To help women understand the importance of self-checks, conduct them in the right way, and monitor breast health seamlessly, Dotplot, a DIY breast monitoring tool, is developed by students of Imperial College London and the Royal College of Arts. Let’s know more about it.
What is Dotplot?
Dotplot is an at-home breast health monitoring tool that offers guided self-checks with real-time analysis of changes in breast tissue. The wireless handheld device is designed to facilitate the early detection of breast cancer by enabling and encouraging women to stick to a regular breast-self check routine.
Dotplot provides,
- A hassle-free solution for self-check
- Real-time detailed analysis of breast health
- Guides users for monthly checks
- Detects changes in breast tissues and advises medical intervention
The highlight of the product is their technical prototype could detect lumps up to 15mm deep inside the breast.
The startup conducted interviews with over fifty women who do and do not have a family history of breast cancer to gather key insights on how they currently engage with self-checks. They also had constant discussions with breast cancer surgeons, radiologists, GPs and other professionals for scientific validation and technological development for product development.
How does Dotplot breast monitoring tool works?
Dotplot is a wireless handheld device along with a smartphone application. Users are taken through one-time onboarding on the app, which includes:
- Entering the details of their period cycle to offer the correct date for their self-check
- Entering their bra size to build a personalised map of their torso
- Sliding the Dotplot device over the breasts to rescale the baseline model
Once set up, the app guides women through the self-check by showing which areas they need to scan.
The position of the device on the torso is determined by Dotplot’s pre-trained system, which analyses the orientation of the device relative to the ground. A sound signal of a known frequency is emitted to record the tissue composition at the site. Breast area that the user needs to check flashes on the app until a reading has been taken.
Each month’s reading is compared to the previously recorded readings to highlight any abnormalities developing in the tissue. Users can send these reports from the app directly to their healthcare provider for further diagnosis and treatment.
What makes Dotplot different?
There are multiple techniques and methods for completing breast self-checks, which leave women in confusion. As a result, 64% of women aged 18 to 35 fail to conduct regular breast self-examinations.
This scenario made Dotplot founders realise that most women want to know the ‘what, how and why’ to perform this check correctly. “…the demonstrations, pamphlets and tutorials provided for breast health care—though useful—were insufficient.” – Dotplot founders.
While existing scanners/devices are designed chiefly for clinical use, Dotplot targets at-home use, providing women with more autonomy over breast healthcare.
- It eliminates the guesswork by providing personalised demonstrations for self-checks.
- Dotplot is roughly one-third of the size of existing scanners, making it less resource-heavy.
- It provides real-time feedback during checks.
Dotplot is an excellent tool for self-check. However, it isn’t an alternative to a medical checkup.
About Dotplot: Awards and achievements
Dotplot started as a group project by the students of Imperial College London and Royal College of Arts—Shefali Bohra, Debra Babalola, Himari Tamamura and Yukun Ge. Shefali noticed an unusual lump in her breasts after a gym workout. Though the lump was just a harmless swollen tissue, it made her really nervous and led to the idea of Dotplot.
To prevent cancer diagnoses and encourage women to make breast self-checks a habit, Dotplot grew from becoming a group project to an award-winning startup.
Dotplot has won several prestigious awards, including
- James Dyson Award | UK National Winner 2022
- Helen Hamlyn Award for Digital Inclusion, sponsored by Tata Consultancy Services
- Venture Catalyst Challenge (VCC) 2022
It has also been featured in BBC News London. With the prize money of £30,000 from the James Dyson Award, the team aims VCC to run an efficacy trial of the device in a breast cancer clinic.
Let’s detect breast cancer in its early stages
Breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women. However, 95% of women can survive stage-one breast cancer if detected early. The survival rate drops by 25% by the time the cancer is in stage four. Therefore, there is a dire need to spread breast self-checks and monitoring awareness among women of all ages. It is also necessary to empower women with guides, resources and tools that can help them understand their breast health better.
“We aim to make breast health care routine and demonstrate that discovering changes in your breast tissue is not something to be feared – especially when detected in good time.”
– Founders of Dotplot
While several startups have started moving into this space, like The Blue Box, Niramai, etc., Dotplot has an upper hand as it gives the autonomy of their breast health in the hands of women and helps them not just self-check but also understand their breasts. The startup is also working on removing the taboo and shame associated with talking about breast health publicly.
