Finally! Something beneficial for the ladies—and this time, it’s not pink, overpriced, or totally useless. It’s a small win, but we’ll take it. Researchers have developed a small device that fits inside a menstrual pad and can detect signs of disease in period blood, including biomarkers linked to ovarian cancer.
The lightweight sensor is about the size of a postage stamp and sits at the bottom of the pad, encased in soft silicone. Inside is a paper test strip that reacts when it comes into contact with specific proteins.
“We imagine this tool to be potentially useful for women at increased risk for cancer,” Inge Herrmann, a professor at ETH Zurich and head of the Nanoparticle Systems Engineering Lab, told Live Science. She hopes it may “provide users with an additional monitoring tool” that’s affordable and easy to use.
New Menstrual Pad Device Tracks Period Blood for Signs of Disease
The prototype is currently tuned to detect three biomarkers: CRP (an inflammation marker), CEA (a general tumor marker), and CA-125 (a protein associated with ovarian cancer). When blood hits the strip, a circle or line appears within 15 minutes. The darker the mark, the more protein is present.
The results can be read by eye, but researchers also built an app that uses image analysis to help interpret the test. As for comfort, Herrmann said, “You can’t feel it,” and added that volunteers reported “no difference compared to a commercially available sanitary pad.”
Right now, blood tests for CA-125 are only recommended for people at high risk for ovarian cancer since elevated levels can also be caused by other conditions like endometriosis. But researchers say regular, easy-to-use monitoring could give people more data over time. That includes subtle changes that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Dr. Paul Blumenthal, an OB-GYN and professor emeritus at Stanford University who was not involved in the study, sees the potential. “Let’s just say I’m measuring your CA-125, and it’s pretty normal. And one year it sneaks above your level—maybe that’s the first indication [that] something is not right.”
So far, the device has shown promising accuracy in lab tests using venous and menstrual blood. The next step: recruiting around 100 participants to test it in real-world conditions. If that goes well, it could be available in about three years.
It’s a pad that absorbs blood and gives you data. Honestly, about time.
The post This Menstrual Pad Doesn’t Just Collect Blood—It Analyzes It appeared first on VICE.
