University of Wollongong researchers are developing a material sleeve made of "artificial muscles" that will provide relief to breast cancer patients suffering lymphoedema.
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The researchers are looking for Illawarra patients to take part in a clinical trial of the sleeve, which will ease the symptoms of lymphoedema, or swelling, through a massaging motion.
With the current prototype, massage kicks in when the wearer presses a button but the aim is to develop the sleeve with inbuilt sensors detecting swelling and automatically switching on.
Dr Bridget Munro and Professor Julie Steele, from UOW's Biomechanic Research Laboratory, said it was important to get lymphoedema patients' input into the design and operation of the sleeve.
"The sleeve will eventually be attached to a garment like a jumper that can be worn by the patient," Dr Munro said. "We want to design something they will like and actually wear so we need their input."
Lymphoedema, which can occur when lymph nodes are damaged or removed, prevents lymph fluid from draining properly, which causes fluid build-up and swelling.
"About 30 per cent of women who have been through a breast cancer diagnosis, then get a breast cancer-related swelling of the arm, breast or chest," Dr Munro said.
"There's no cure for it and they have to have daily treatments which can include massage, pneumatic or air pumps, compression garments, medication or skin care."
Dr Munro and Professor Steele have been working with Professor Geoff Spinks and his team at UOW's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute who use nanotechnology to develop smart materials that contract and relax like real muscles, so replicating that massaging motion.
"We have been developing materials we call 'artificial muscles', which are able to be stimulated, for example by voltage, to change their volume or their shape," Prof Spinks said.
"So they act like a real muscle which gets a nerve stimulus from the brain to help it contract; we mimic that by producing a contraction in the artificial muscle by sending a signal from a power supply like a battery.
"Eventually, we hope to build a system [for the sleeve] which has some sort of sensor which detects when a contraction is needed and will automatically send a signal to the artificial muscle.
"In this way, the wearer doesn't have to even be involved in the process of turning it on and off, and the device is able to intervene before swelling really starts."
If you are a lymphoedema sufferer and would like to join the trial, contact Rosie on 4221 4480 or email rsadler@uow.edu.au.
