Around 1960, Dr. Robert Egan of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center took up and further improved mammography technology by using industrial film that required fewer X-ray doses and produced better quality images: tumors appeared white and dark gray normal fabric.
Egan revolutionized the study of the breast after examining the breasts of a thousand women who were healthy and did not suspect breast cancer. He found tumors in 238.
Later, in the eighties and nineties, mammography began to establish itself in some countries as a method of screening for breast cancer. And today in Mexico health programs invite women, from the age of 40, to undergo a mammogram every three years to detect signs of the disease.
It is known that with cancer, the earlier the disease is detected, the better the result. And so far the best way to detect a breast tumor in its early stages is with a mammogram: when a dangerous tumor is detected with a mammogram, a woman’s chance of survival increases.
Other diagnostic tools have also emerged, such as nuclear magnetic resonance (MRI) and ultrasound, which complement mammography, detecting breast cancers that may not be detectable with a mammogram. Both the MRI such as ultrasound are recommended for a specific group of women: pregnant or with dense breast tissue.
Following the example of Dr. Egan, graduates of the Bionic Engineering career of the Interdisciplinary Professional Unit in Engineering and Advanced Technologies (UPIITA) of the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) created a medical device for the early detection of breast cancer by temperature.
The promising device called Thermy detects temperature anomalies related to the growth of cancerous tumors in the breasts from their earliest stages by using infrared thermography and the development of a software and an algorithm capable of combining thermographic images with Artificial Intelligence (HE) to generate a high precision and resolution study.
The young innovators Luis Enrique Hernández Gómez, Jan Andrei Merino González, Pedro Abraham Sánchez Méndez, Jorge Antonio Juárez Aburto and Kevin Andrés Hernández Santiago, grouped together in their own technology company, Fundación Pro-Entrepreneurship AC, obtained the Santander Award for Business Innovation 2020 in the Prototype category.
Thermy highlighted among more than 1,200 youth projects from 188 public and private universities in the country.
The entrepreneurs will use the resources of the award to conclude the international patent, certificates and sanitary regulations, as well as to perfect and optimize the operation of Thermy.
On behalf of the Pro-Entrepreneurship group, Jan Andrei Merino details for Vertigo the origin, development and scope of this novel diagnostic tool “whose purpose is to reduce the number of deaths from late detection of breast cancer in Mexico”.
Safe, non-invasive, painless
This young polytechnic engineer is proud of “being able to offer our mothers, sisters, friends, wives and colleagues a higher level of tranquility with the possibility of early detection of breast cancer. And above all to help them make a diagnosis with a procedure without discomfort, because it is not required to compress the chest for a few minutes as in tomographies ”.
Thermy it is a “highly sensitive portable equipment” made up of a thermal camera, Intel technology processor and two reference monitors: one for the patient to see her study in real time and the other for the person conducting the study. The operator does not see the patient or have physical contact with her.
In a small space, the patient sits on a bench in her gown and completely uncovers her torso for a few minutes to acclimate the temperature of the breasts to that of the room. Three images are taken in front of the camera to obtain the thermography. Digital analysis of thermographic or infrared images is done in seconds and the study result is ready in around 15 minutes.
Merino assures that it is a painless, non-invasive and 100% safe study because X-rays are not used and that is why more frequent studies can be carried out: two per year.
It also states that the easy access to the study offers the possibility of extending it to women aged 20 and over because it is a neglected segment of the population whose majority do not have the resources for a mammogram. It should be remembered that the mammography method is carried out in Mexico from the age of 40 and in other countries from the age of 50, but in Mexico 15% of all cases occur in young women under 40.
The device is a reality and the product’s manufacturing process is currently being carried out in its modular form, which will be available for commercialization in March.
With the team Thermy 3,700 free studies have been conducted at the clinic FUCAM AC, with more than 90% sensitivity in preliminary tests and the detection of more than 140 positive cases confirmed by mammography and biopsy.
The entrepreneur recalls that one of his project and career partners traveled to Brazil for an academic exchange with the Fluminense Federal University; upon his return he commented on the rise and importance in that country of thermography in medicine.
At that time they were defining in UPIITA the final project to obtain the title of engineer in Bionics and were interested in this technique of measuring temperature without physical contact. They were struck by the fact that thermography allows the monitoring of physiological functions that are reflected in temperature variations in the skin through infrared cameras. It is a technology of great importance for doctors who are dedicated to doing research and diagnostics.
They quickly concluded the idea of creating a device focused on the detection of breast cancer because infrared thermography is a diagnostic technique that is non-invasive (does not produce pain or emits radiation) and can help detect the existence of hyperthermia (temperature high body).
In 2021, the creators of the breast cancer detection instrument are going to promote it among public and private health systems with the idea that they integrate it into their clinics and hospitals and thus be able to carry out free or low-cost studies on women of different ages and socioeconomic conditions.
“It must be taken into account that in Mexico there are more than 30 million women over 25 years of age, that is, women in need of monitoring for early detection of breast cancer; That is why the entry into operation of Thermy and its gradual adoption by the medical community ”, shares Merino.
Breast cancer in Mexico and the world
Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide. Around 1.7 million new cases are estimated each year and there are about 458 thousand deaths from breast cancer, with malignant tumors being the main cause of death in women (WHO).
This trend is also observed in the country: in 2018, 314 thousand 499 female deaths were registered: 44 thousand 164 were caused by malignant tumors; and of these 7,257 for breast cancer. This amount is equivalent to 16% of all female deaths due to malignant tumors and places it in the first place of this classification.
In 2019, for every 100,000 women aged 20 years or older, 35.24 new cases of breast cancer were reported in Mexico.
It is estimated that in 2020 there were 16,500 new cases.
In Mexico it is the second cause of death in women and although most cases are observed after the age of 40, in recent times there has been an increase in cases in women around 30 years of age.
Breast cancer and Covid-19
According to a survey by the Salvati Foundation, 86% of patients facing breast cancer have interrupted their treatment; 64% stated that they have not been able to resume their treatment and so far do not know the evolution of their disease.
Almost 38% of those surveyed say they stopped their treatment because of Covid-19.
Nuevo León has been the state hardest hit by this situation, where 87% of the patients cut off their treatment due to a shortage of medicines.
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