when blind women detect tumors

Tumors measuring between 5 and 8 millimeters can now be detected with a simple breast palpation. This feat is made possible thanks to the new tactile medical assistants, trained at the German Discovering Hands center in Berlin (Germany). All the participants – exclusively women – in this training are blind because their sense of touch is much more developed than average, multiplied by their blindness. A resource that allows them to detect very small tumors. During a palpation, a doctor or gynecologist can smell tumors that are 1 to 2 centimeters in size. Tactile medical assistants are able to detect tumors up to two and a half times smaller.

State funded training and private scholarships

The idea for this new tactile medical assistant post comes from Franck Hoffmann, a gynecologist. Noting that he and his colleagues were unable to detect very small tumors, he had a revelation one morning: Blind people who depend on their sense of touch will be far more effective than any doctor. Thus was born in 2006 the Discovering Hands center. The training offered lasts nine months and costs 30,000 euros. However, participants don’t have to pay anything. Everything is taken care of by the German state and private scholarships. Learning to feel the breasts is both theoretical and practical. They first hit small wooden balls that represent different sizes of tumors. Once integrated, they practice finding them in foam mats that are supposed to represent the epidermis. The more they train, the more they refine their sense of touch to better detect them.

Patients have a better chance of being cured

The challenge is twofold: cheaper, more comprehensive and more efficient screening. At a gynecologist or doctor, a breast palpation does not last long, on the order of three minutes. These medical assistants, in addition to their more precise screening, will give patients more time. They can ask any questions they want and be reassured. But who says longer doesn’t mean more expensive because touchscreen medical assistants have lower salaries than doctors and gynecologists. In Germany, the costs of these consultations will be covered by health insurance. Finally, the last more than beneficial advantage for patients: the very early diagnosis allowed by the tactile medical assistants greatly increases the chances of recovery. In fact, the smaller the tumor and the earlier it is detected, the more effective the treatment will be, started immediately.

At present, around forty tactile medical assistants are working in gynecological clinics in Germany.

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