Designing A Better Breast Cancer Screening Experience

According to the American Cancer Society, only two-thirds of women 40 and older report having had a mammogram in the last two years. Fear and discomfort are some of the primary reasons women give for avoiding them, and it’s no wonder − mammograms have a reputation for being a cold, uncomfortable and often painful experience. Fellow frog Laura Richardson blogged about her own discomforting experience with her first mammogram here not too long ago.    

The experience and comfort of both the patient and technician were top of mind when we partnered with Siemens to develop their new Acuson S2000 ABVS system, an ultrasound system intended for early detection of breast cancer in women with dense breasts.

According to studies, cancer appears more frequently in women with extremely dense breasts than in those with the most fatty tissue. Unfortunately, mammograms aren’t always effective at identifying cancer in dense breasts. That’s because fat appears dark on a mammogram, while dense tissue is light, like tumors, which can hide the cancer. While mammography remains the standard for breast cancer screening, studies have shown that the detection rate for breast cancer can increase more than 40 percent when an ultrasound examination follows a mammogram.  

Siemens’ Acuson S2000 ABVS is an ultrasound system intended for the early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer, particularly for women with dense breasts. From research conducted on existing ultrasound systems, we knew that many had good functionality but also numerous ergonomic issues. Our role was to ensure that the design addressed the comfort issues for the system operators, but in doing so, we were also able to foster a greater connection between the patient and technician.

With frog’s input, the new system:
•    Reduces the examination time to less than half the time for handheld screening devices. 
•    Includes a support arm that enables the technician to easily position it without straining the neck, hand and arm, while avoiding bulky hardware directly over the patient’s head, which can be disconcerting.
•    Includes a preview screen mounted above the scanning unit, enabling patients and technicians to maintain eye contact throughout the exam, which makes the experience less impersonal and more comfortable for the patient.
•    Like other ultrasound systems, allows women to recline comfortably during the exam.               

The primary goal of any screening device is to be as effective as possible at identifying health threats. That said, as designers we also have an obligation and an opportunity to use design to foster connections between the people, technologies and systems that touch personal health, and create better experiences for everyone involved. We were able to give extra attention to the user experience without lengthening overall development time, due to our abilities in concurrent design and engineering, and rapid 'experience prototyping.’

In our first DesignWell blog post, frog Laura Richardson wrote, “the mammogram machine could be so many things, while still supplying its primary purpose. Instead, I’m left with the distinct impression in my mind and on my breasts, that this is yet another piece of technology not built for the very people required to use it.” A breast cancer screening may never be an entirely pleasant experience, but by designing more systems like the Acuson AVBS with the end users in mind, we can begin to rethink medical device design to work in concert with the body, not against it.