Annual mammography alone may leave tumours undetected at an early stage in those whose genetics or history place them at elevated risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer can take hold during the gap between one yearly mammogram and the next, even among those who keep up with routine screening. Classified as interval cancers, these tumours carry a higher likelihood of aggressive behaviour and make up roughly one in four of all breast cancer diagnoses.
Researchers at MIT have built handheld ultrasound-based detectors that lend themselves to far more routine deployment, opening a path toward catching conditions at an earlier stage. A newly published paper from the team details advances in image clarity within their diagnostic system, with sharper outputs now enabling more reliable identification of tumours, cysts, and microcalcifications.
A companion interface was developed alongside the probe, designed so that operators without any background in ultrasound imaging could navigate its functions without difficulty. Capable of detecting breast cancer at earlier stages and of monitoring how tissue responds to treatment over time — whether patients use it in a clinic or at home — the device relies on software that guides users to position it at the same anatomical point during each session, a consistency the research team considers indispensable to drawing meaningful conclusions from longitudinal tissue data.
The death of an aunt to interval breast cancer in 2015 directed Dagdeviren's research toward a screening method capable of producing clearer results in women with dense breast tissue and of being used at intervals shorter than those typical of mammography. Sound waves directed at tissue produce the cross-sectional images that guided her choice of ultrasound as the diagnostic method. Where mammogram results raise concerns, follow-up imaging via ultrasound is a common next step — though the scanning hardware involved tends to be bulky and demands a skilled technician to operate it.
A compact ultrasound probe paired with an acquisition and processing module only marginally larger than a smartphone was the centrepiece of research published by Dagdeviren's lab within the current year. Developers describe the device as capable of generating a three-dimensional breast image by taking readings at only two or three positions across the tissue. Published in Nature Communications, the work outlined a set of technical developments through which both imaging resolution and operational ease were advanced.
Among the refinements made to the ultrasound transducer, engineers incorporated what is described as a "backing layer" into its construction. By channelling and concentrating the ultrasound waves, that layer sharpens the definition and overall clarity of the images produced. According to Nayeem, the backing layer extends the device's receptive range across the frequency spectrum while simultaneously suppressing both acoustical and electrical interference — a combination that, in his assessment, yields cleaner, more detailed imaging over a broader band of operating frequencies.
A beamforming technique, applied adaptively through a purpose-built algorithm, allowed the team to push image quality further. The algorithm enables the system to account for variations in how quickly sound waves move through different tissue types — skin and fat among them — with a researcher explaining that the goal is to model the acoustic properties of the tissue under examination and apply those findings to produce a more precise image. Viswanath notes that applying the technique yields resolution gains of around 10 percent.
Ten participants with no background in ultrasound technology were given the system and tasked with locating small targets embedded within a tissue phantom — a gel-like substance engineered to replicate the properties of human tissue. Those who took part in the trial located the spheres at a notably higher rate when guided by the new system than when relying on a conventional ultrasound probe.
An on-screen interface, developed alongside the updated version of the system, walks the user through positioning the probe correctly. Yoon described the interface as straightforward to operate, noting that real-time footage appears directly on the display.
Dagdeviren, who holds an associate professorship in media arts and sciences at MIT and served as the study's senior author, described the device as straightforward to operate and accessible to users without prior training. Three researchers — Md Osman Goni Nayeem, who completed a postdoctoral post at MIT, alongside MIT graduate students Shrihari Viswanath and Hyeokjun Yoon — share lead-author credit on the paper published in Nature Communications.
Tracking how a treatment like neoadjuvant therapy is progressing, or keeping watch over established abnormalities such as fibroadenomas and microcalcifications over time, represents one area where this capability may prove particularly useful, the researchers noted. The researchers also noted that beyond enabling earlier detection, such a system could extend ultrasound access to patients in underserved regions where trained technicians are in short supply.
Plans are taking shape among Dagdeviren and a number of her students to establish a company aimed at bringing the technology to the commercial market. Breast cancer detection serves as the starting point, Dagdeviren explained, with the platform's adaptability across soft tissue applications — ovarian cancer assessment, tracking endometriosis over time, and monitoring fetal development among them — pointing toward a broader clinical reach.
