INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This year, more than 350,000 women throughout the U.S. will be diagnosed with breast cancer. One in eight will be told they have it in their lifetime. Early detection increases survival rates to 98%. If the cancer enters late stage, the survival rate drops to just 22%. That’s why it’s vital for women over 40 to have their annual mammogram screening. And now, there may be an even easier way to screen — at home.

The devastating diagnosis of late-stage breast cancer struck Fatma when she was just 49 years old. Watching her aunt’s struggle, inspired MIT Professor Canan Dagdeviren, PhD, to save others.

“I spent her last few days with her and just to comfort her, I was just sketching an electronic bra on a piece of paper,” Dagdeviren said.

Over the next seven years, Dagdeviren and her team at MIT, worked on a patch that can be used by women at home to detect changes in their breast health over time.

“The wearable technology that we provide based on ultrasound technology,” Dagdeviren explained.

Made by a 3D printer, the plastic patch sits over a bra. Ultrasound images are captured by a tiny tracker that moves around the patch, rotating 360 degrees, providing real-time images at multiple angles. It works on all types of breasts, including dense breasts.

“You can just wear for a few minutes and then you can take it off and just wear your normal bra and do your daily activities,” Dagdeviren said.

Dagdeviren believes the ultrasound patch could save millions of lives around the world every year.

“Back then it was just a dream on a piece of paper. Now it’s real. And we touch many people’s lives and bodies,” Dagdeviren said.

Half of women who are high risk develop breast cancer between their yearly mammograms. Prof. Dagdeviren believes her ultrasound patch could not only help to save their lives, but also provide women in lower income countries access to screening. Currently, the ultrasound patch is in a larger-scale clinical trial and hopefully will be FDA approved in the next five years. Currently it costs $1,500 to make, but researchers believe that with mass production, the cost will be much lower.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Health Spotlight is presented by Community Health Network.