Medical Tactile Examiners — A New Method of Accurately Diagnosing Breast Cancer and Empowering Visually-Impaired Women
Ritiya Maurya, who is a trainee Medical Tactile Examiner at Enable India, is blind in one eye and has extremely limited vision in the other.
Photograph: Priti Salian, The Guardian
According to the National Cancer Institute, Breast Cancer is the most common type of cancer in the united states, with 1 out of 8 women being diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives, as well as making up 30% of all cancer patients.
The early symptoms of breast cancer are quite difficult to spot, including lumps forming on the breast or underarm, irritation, or swelling. Additionally, biopsies and mammographies, both of which require highly specialized doctors and expensive equipment, are the only definitive ways to diagnose breast cancer, making accurate diagnoses even more difficult to obtain in rural areas — which is where Medical Tactile Examiners come in.
Ritiya Maurya is a visually impaired 23-year-old woman who is a Medical Tactile Examiner Trainee at Enable India and is part of a project where visually impaired women are taught to use touch to detect breast lumps or changes that might mean lurking cancer.
MTEs can detect lumps as tiny as 6-8mm, as opposed to the larger 10-20mm ones physicians can find, making for a more thorough examination. A study done in 2019 that compared the accuracy of diagnoses from physicians and visually impaired MTEs found “clinical breast exams by MTEs with impaired vision appear to have an accuracy level similar to that of examinations by physicians or a combination of both.”A study was also conducted in Delhi where a study of tactile examinations on 1,338 women this year found that 78% of malignant cancers were detected and only 1% were missed.
Routine breast cancer examinations by MTE in rural communities and villages that may lack the machinery required for mammograms and ultrasound machines will significantly impact the detection of early signs of breast cancer in India, where robust government-run screening programs don’t exist.
Ritiya explains that blind women are specifically chosen for the project as women who may have breast cancer are typically uncomfortable about doing breast self-examinations, and a blind examiner will make them feel more comfortable with the procedure. She also states that her impairment heightens her tactile abilities (There are lab studies demonstrating a correlation between visual impairment at an early age and better tactile abilities, linked here.)
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