Digital Oncology: Developing wearable nanofibre-based temperature sensors for early diagnosis of cancer

乳腺癌是全球女性死亡的主要原因之一[1]。根据世卫组织的数据，它是世界上最常见的确诊癌症，占2020年新增病例(230万例BC病例)和约685,000例死亡总数的12.5%[2]。早期发现BC对于提高患者高达98%的5年存活率至关重要[3]。乳腺肿瘤的存在可以使用各种成像技术如乳房X光检查、超声和磁共振成像来检测，但这些方法作为个人监测设备是不切实际的，因为它们成本高，对患者来说操作起来不舒服。目前乳房X光照相是乳腺癌早期筛查的金标准方法，然而，它有一些缺点[4]：有必要压迫患者的乳房，增加因电离辐射暴露而致癌的风险。对于乳房组织致密或隆胸的女性，结果可能不太准确。乳房皮肤温度与乳癌之间存在相关性，而且是可以测量的[5]。这促使了热像仪的发展，它现在被用作另一种方式，具有很高的早期BC检测的潜力。它使用红外相机来检测身体组织中的热模式和血流[6]。非侵入性、无辐射和无痛苦。检测组织致密的乳房和植入物的变化。熟练的医疗专业人员必须在医院或热像中心进行筛查，因此即使这项技术已被证明是一种可能的补充工具，但用作个人保健设备(PHD)是不现实的。本研究的目标是开发一种低成本、实时、灵活和可呼吸的可穿戴贴片，用于基于热像理论和机制的早期BC检测的连续温度监测。它将包括：包含温度传感器的基于纳米纤维的可穿戴贴片。贴片的蓝牙接口电路，用于将临时数据传输到移动应用程序。移动应用程序，显示来自可穿戴贴片的临时数据，以增强用户体验。该设备将有效地充当PHD，监测乳房健康：在乳房X光检查间隔期间和50岁以下女性筛查指南未指明的情况下，改进对快速生长的肿瘤的检测。提醒用户可能需要进一步研究的变化。减轻医疗成本负担，降低医疗服务的障碍，可穿戴的贴片应该能够随着时间的推移识别乳房发热模式的特定特征，以检测BC：A.左右乳房之间高度不对称的温度分布B。2方法第一阶段，可穿戴贴片的制作：使用电纺工具制作纳米网格基层。制作有源感应层。比较分析：使用现有的红外热像仪验证新开发的贴片获得的结果。第二阶段，传感器接口电路：使用现成的Arduino电路，并为其配备蓝牙发射器，以将实时温度传感数据传送到手机进行远程监控。第三阶段，移动应用：开发一款兼容iOS和Android的应用程序，从贴片中读取数据。测试整个系统：对开发的贴片在动物身体皮肤上进行测试，以优化其一致性和粘附性。设计一个嵌入加热器的乳房体模，分别模仿女性的乳房和肿瘤，并使用它在体外测试贴片。整个系统的体内测试。

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide [1]. According to WHO,it is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the world contributing to 12.5% of the total number ofnew cases (2.3 million BC cases) and about 685,000 deaths in 2020 [2]. Early detection of BC is vital toimprove the 5-year survival rate of the patient for up to 98% [3]. The existence of breast tumors canbe detected using a variety of imaging techniques such as mammography, ultrasound, and MRI.However, these methods are impractical to be used as personal monitoring devices due to their highcost and uncomfortable procedures for the patient. Mammography is currently the gold-standardscreening method for BC at its initial stage, however, it has a number of drawbacks [4]:the necessity of compressing the patient's breasts increased cancer risks due to ionizing radiation exposureresults may be less accurate for women with dense breast tissue or breast implants.There is a correlation between breast skin temperature and cancerous breasts, and it is measurable[5]. This has prompted the development of thermography which is now used as an additional modalitywith a high potential for early BC detection. It uses an infrared camera to detect heat patterns andblood flow in body tissues [6].Non-invasive, radiation-free & painless.Detects changes in breasts with dense tissue and implants.A skilled medical professional must perform the screening in a hospital or thermography centre,therefore even though the technology has been proven to be a possible complementary tool, it isimpractical to use as a personal healthcare device (PHD).The goal of this research is to develop a low-cost, real-time, flexible, and breathable wearable patchfor continuous temp monitoring for early BC detection based on the theory and mechanism ofthermography. It will consist of:A nanofiber-based wearable patch containing temp sensors.A Bluetooth interface circuit for the patch to transmit the temp data to a mobile application.A mobile application to display temp data from the wearable patch for an enhanced userexperience.This device will effectively serve as a PHD that monitors breast health to:Improve detection of fast-growing tumors between mammogram intervals and whenmammography is not indicated by screening guidelines for women under 50.Alert the user to changes that may need further investigation.Reduce healthcare cost burden, barriers to health services, and user anxiety.The wearable patch should be able to identify specific features of breast heat patterns over time todetect BC:A. highly asymmetric temperature distributions between the left & right breastsB. localised hot spots indicating anomalies & variations in heat patterns in the areolar andperiareolar regions.2Methodology1st Phase, Fabrication of Wearable Patch:Fabricate the nanomesh base layer using the electrospinning tool.Fabricate the active sensing layer.Comparative analysis: use an existing infrared thermal imaging camera to verify the result obtainedfrom the newly developed patch.2nd Phase, Sensor Interface Circuit: use an off-the-shelf Arduino circuit and equip it with a Bluetoothtransmitter to deliver real-time temp-sensing data to cell phones for remote monitoring.3rd phase, Mobile Application: develop an app that is compatible with both iOS & Android to readtemp data from the patch.Testing the Full System:Testing of the developed patch on dead animal skin to optimize the conformability & adhesionproperties.Design a breast phantom embedded with a heater to mimic a woman's breast & tumorrespectively and use it to test the patch in-vitro.In-vivo test of the full system.