This Mexican teen has designed a 'smart bra' that can detect breast cancer

The inventor is just 18-years-old! Photo: Instagram/julianrioscantu

Lakhs of women in the world die each year from breast cancer. The late detection of this fatal disease makes it impossible to save them. According to a UK study, over 90% of women diagnosed with earliest stage breast cancer survive, compared to 15% at the most advanced stages of the disease. However, things might soon change for the better. Wonder how?

Well, a Mexican teen has come up with a 'smart bra' that can detect early signs of breast cancer that often go unnoticed. Julian Ros Cantu, whose mother lost her breasts to this disease, decided to invent these bras to make sure no other woman ever has to go through the ordeal.

Julian, who's just 18-years-old, started Higia Technologies with his three close friends last year. The 'smart bra', EVA, which has 200 built-in sensors, can map the surface of the breast for any irregularities. The bra can also gauge the texture, colour, and temperature of the body part.

The garment then sends all the information to a computer or smartphone app via Bluetooth, where it is then processed by a neural network. The heat sensors can detect blood flow, which can sometimes suggest that blood is feeding cancer cells.

Also Read: India set to get its first lingerie vending machine. But, what's the point when our society has a problem with breasts?

In an interview to Mexican newspaper El Universal, the young inventor said "What happens is we take all of the data and store it. When there is a tumor in the breast there is more blood, more heat, so there are changes in temperature and texture."

He said that any drastic changes in the breasts can be detected by the bra. "We will tell you 'in this quadrant there are drastic changes in temperature' and our software specializes in caring for that area. If we see a persistent change, we will recommend that you go to the doctor," he added.

The breast cancer detecting bra has already garnered a lot of recognition from people. In fact, EVA bra won the top prize at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards in Frankfurt, Germany, beating out 55 other young entrepreneurs from 55 other countries.

However, Julian estimates that it will be two years before the bra is certified for use. But he's certain that his invention is an important step forward in early breast cancer detection. We are hoping that this invention will pave way towards in breast cancer research.