CDRP faculty affiliate Stacy Tessler Lindau’s bionic breast project to restore sense of touch for mastectomy patients was featured in the Chicago Tribune on December 22, 2024.
At 36, Heather Tubigan of west suburban Chicago discovered an avocado seed-sized lump in her left breast. It was a malignant tumor. The cancer had already spread to her lymph nodes.
Terrified, she almost reflexively asked her surgeon to remove both of her breasts, even though the cancer afflicted only one side.
The surgeon urged her to reconsider. While the breast with the tumor had to be removed, the physician explained that there were many benefits to keeping the healthy breast intact — including preserving feeling on one side of the chest, which would be gone on the other side after surgery.
That loss of sensation is often more profound than many breast cancer patients can initially comprehend while grappling with a life-changing illness. From the warmth of a hug to sexual arousal, modern medicine is just beginning to appreciate the various functions of the breast as well as how lack of sensation post-mastectomy can alter the lives, intimacy, sexuality and emotions of breast cancer survivors.
In a groundbreaking project, University of Chicago-led researchers are working to restore that sense of touch for patients who have undergone mastectomy. The team of doctors, neuroscientists and bioengineers is building an implantable device dubbed the “bionic breast,” which will be designed to revive feeling post-mastectomy and reconstruction.
