# Tablet-based mobile health ultrasound for point-of-care breast cancer diagnosis in Nigeria

> **NIH NIH R21** · SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH · 2020 · $183,090

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is a major global health problem requiring strategies for capacity building. Its incidence is
increasing and low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) are being disproportionately affected. Africa suffers the
greatest burden of breast cancer with the highest age-standardized mortality rates in the world. The cause of
this disparity is multifold. One major barrier in LMIC is the lack of affordable and appropriate breast cancer
diagnosis by ultrasound (US)-guided biopsy. While it is the standard of care in high-income countries (HIC), it is
not performed by radiologists in LMIC despite the Breast Health Global Initiative’s recommendation. Most
radiologists in LMIC do not have the required skills to perform US-guided breast biopsy; hence, breast cancer is
often diagnosed by blind biopsy or surgical excision. Until recently, the prohibitive cost of US devices limited their
availability in LMIC. US is the mainstay of diagnostic imaging in LMIC and so they are in near constant clinical
use and not available for capacity building. New technologies have overcome this barrier because mobile health
(mHealth) US-devices are now FDA approved products, which are the perfect low cost alternative. These hand-
held, battery operated point-of-care (POC) mhealth US devices offer a safe, simple and sustainable solution.
The gap in LMIC affordable and appropriate breast cancer diagnosis is no longer technology, equipment,
infrastructure or staff but the lack of an established US-guided breast biopsy-training program. Therefore, the
goal of our proposal is building scalable US-guided breast biopsy capacity. In Aim 1, we will develop a
competency-based mHealth US-guided breast biopsy-training program for LMIC radiologists and validate the
assessment metrics. In Aim 2, we will train ten ARGO Nigerian radiologists to perform US-guided breast biopsies
using the competency-based mHealth training program. ARGO (The African Research Group for Oncology) is a
network of physicians and hospitals that have already demonstrated success in breast cancer research with a
focus on early detection and committed to participating in this project.
Our proposal includes a preexisting, successful clinical research team in the USA and Nigeria who are studying
breast cancer together and have pioneered the feasibility of tablet-based mHealth US-guided breast biopsy
training and clinical implementation in Nigeria. The significance and innovation of this proposal lies in establishing
the critical role of mHealth in building a POC US-guided breast biopsy training program for LMIC that: 1) enables
affordable and appropriate breast cancer diagnosis, 2) is scalable to other LMIC and HIC and 3) can be adapted
for other image-guided procedures that could also impact global cancer control through diagnosis, therapeutic
intervention and/or palliation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9962323
- **Project number:** 5R21CA239784-02
- **Recipient organization:** SLOAN-KETTERING INST CAN RESEARCH
- **Principal Investigator:** Adeleye Dorcas Omisore
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $183,090
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-07-01 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9962323

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9962323, Tablet-based mobile health ultrasound for point-of-care breast cancer diagnosis in Nigeria (5R21CA239784-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9962323. Licensed CC0.

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