BScan

An interactive system for breast cancer screening and awareness in Bangladesh.

In Bangladesh, breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death amongst women and the number one most common cancer among females. Every one female out of nine has the risk of developing this fatal disease and it is increasing at an alarming rate day by day. Most breast cancer cases are detected in later stages of the disease, by when it is too late for treatment. Our application facilitates screening, risk assessment, early identification and early intervention to support improve quality of life and thus reduce the fatality of breast cancer. It also plays an important role in creating awareness about breast cancer.

This app can be helpful in early identification and also provide preventive guidelines which help to improve overall awareness. This application can be used both by community health workers and individuals user or their relatives. Every woman over 18 years can use this app. In rural communities, for the low health literate rural women trained community healthcare workers (CHWs) can be able to give door-to-door health counseling for rural women. Community health workers (CHWs) can go to the doorstep of rural women and inform them and screen them for breast cancer. The individual who are able to read can screen themselves individually.

Women in Bangladesh doesn’t have easy access to breast cancer screening by utilising diagnostic such as mammograms. So this questionnaire-based framework can be used to screening and referrals of suspected cases (high risk women) to doctors for further assessment and confirmation Breast Cancer.

It’s the first breast cancer screening protocol in Bangladesh which is developed by Oncologists, Public Health and Digital Health Experts and performed clinical valuation.

Breast Cancer Screening mobile app supports Android versions 7.0 or later. So far we released Android application package (APK) file for use on android devices. Our mobile application (APK file) should run on android smartphone devices which support at least Android 7.0 or later.

App Size

The android version of the app is 44 MB. This app is user-friendly. Anyone can download it and use it according to instructions in the application.

Screening Framework

We have developed this framework for questionnaire-based risk assessment for early identification of breast cancer. The questions in our model are first divided into three categories - Personal Risk Factors (PRF), Family Risk Factors (FRF) and Breast Symptom Assessment (BSA). Personal Risk Factors take into account demographic and lifestyle information, while Family Risk Factors take into account family history of breast cancer. Finally, in the category Breast Symptom Assessment, we ask questions to check for early common symptoms of breast cancer. Through our questionnaire, we get a risk score for each category, which is then merged to accumulate the final result. By assessing the answers to the questions from the application, it tells the user their level of risk and their possible course of action. Specific recommendations are also given according to the result.

Inputs for screening:

● Personal history related questions

● Family history of breast cancer related questions

● Self-breast examination related questions

Screening results based on following inputs:

● No risk of Breast cancer/Normal

● Low Risk

● Risk of Breast cancer/Moderate Risk

● Risk of Breast cancer/High Risk

● Risk of Breast cancer/Very High Risk

The application as a source of validated information:

The app provides primary education about breast cancer disease, and it can be understood by even rural women with low literacy rates. Here is the link of our educational video:

https://youtu.be/SqCz55gOWlg