Handheld breast ultrasound device aims to improve availability of in-home scans

Yehudit Abrams, MD, a former NASA biomedical scientist, is planning to develop a handheld ultrasound device that will allow women to monitor their breasts in their homes, according to a July 15 report by The Times of Israel.  

Founder and CEO of Jerusalem-based MonitHer, Abrams and her team will create a portable ultrasound device in varying sizes according to a woman's breast cup size. Once a woman scans her own breasts (including four scans per breast including the armpit area), the device will translate data to an app that will be monitored and analyzed by an FDA-approved cloud-based software for change.  

Every month, the app will remind the user to repeat the ultrasound scans. If changes are detected, MonitHer’s software will alert the user and the user can immediately send a secured link to her physician who can examine the images and determine a need for follow-up, according to The Times.  

“The moment the software identifies pathological changes in breast tissue, the app notifies the user and the user can then send, via a secured link, historical images of the breast region in question directly to their physician for review,” Abrams told The Times. “Some 266,120 cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed every year in the U.S. and only 63,960 of the cases are of stage 0 cancer. I want to reverse those numbers and the only way we can do this is through monthly monitoring.” 

Read The Times of Israel's entire article below:  

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A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.

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