A Study of an Electrodynamic Mechanical Impedance Device

Abstract

Although mammography when combined with palpation (the manual exploration of the breast for cancerous lumps) has been found to be extremely effective in detecting breast cancer in an early, still curable stage, the uncertainties involved in its safety make it necessary for other methods of cancer detection to be developed, to serve as intermediate steps, which can then justify the ordering of a mammographic series. One such device which could possibly aid in – but is not limited to - breast cancer detection, is the electrodynamic mechanical impedance shaker in which the mechanical impedance characteristic of the tissue involved is determined and compared to a standard characteristic. It will thus be the concern of this paper to discuss topics as related to this transducer system and its inherent characteristics. The need for such an intermediate device becomes evident when examining the breast cancer situation more closely. In 1974, a surge of publicity about breast cancer brought crowds of women to mammography clinics across the nation, but by mid-1976, this trend was to change drastically as newspapers, magazines, and other news media reported findings that a single mammographic examination with doses of one rad or less could be expected to increase a woman's lifetime risk of breast cancer by one percent.1 It was further reported that for a majority of women this one rad maximum, one percent increase does not apply, for in actual fact, one rad is seldom the case, since x-ray equipment varies, as does the amount of radiation necessary to get a good picture in different circumstances.2 Almost immediately, there was a 70% drop in such examinations, as women, even those with palpable breast lumps cancelled their appointments.3