PWB Health Unveils Device For Breast Self-Examination

Scottish company PWB Health has unveiled a unique device for breast self-examination by women to detect cancerous growth in the early stages. The device, called Breastlight, could potentially be a huge relief for women, considering it is convenient to use and costs just £79 apiece.

PWB Health, based in Dumbarton, has already been awarded £165,000 under the Scottish Government's Smart Scotland awards scheme. Jim Hall of PWB Health said, “We now have a prototype that delivers a high level of performance.”

Hall added, “We firmly believe that Breastlight will make a huge difference in providing women with an extra level of confidence and reassurance when they carry out their breast awareness routines.”

However PWB said it was yet too early to forecast mass orders and make an estimate of the demand from clinics and hospitals. The device, which is in the form of a shapely Breastlight, uses diodes that emit red light to allow women to check for any unnatural growth in their breasts.

The bright red light shining through the breast tissue will enable women to take an internal view of their breasts and chart the changes in form and texture over time. No longer will women have to suffer the uncertainty of unstructured breast examinations between their scheduled mammograms.

The new device is expected to set at rest women’s fears regarding breast cancerdefine. If at all they notice any changes during the self-examination, they can report to their doctors for early treatment.

The concept was first explored in the 1980s, but it took a long while to develop the device to its present user-friendly form from the originally bulky prototype. Earlier in 1929, Dr. Max Cutler was one of the first physicians to use a strong light to see through a woman's breast using a process called translumination.

However, the images generated through translumination were faded and found unsuitable for diagnosis. Then came diaphanography, a process scientists used to try and detect cancerous growth in a breast using infrared light. However, they soon found the process was successful in detecting only large tumors near the surface.

John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, spoke highly of the new device’s ‘potential health benefits for millions of women as an aid for breast awareness.’

Mr. Swinney, who visited the company, added, “What encourages me about this product is that by a combination of invention in Scotland and some support from the Scottish Government, we are able to bring to the global market place a very exciting product for the health care of women.”

“It has been developed by the quality and talent of engineers and inventors in Scotland. That's something we should be very proud of. It gives us great foundations for the future of our economy,” Mr. Swinney said.