Breast Cancer Detection: The Development and Pilot Study of a "Tactile Landscape" as a Standardized Testing Tool.

Introduction: There is still a need for competent breast lump detection palpation skills, especially in developing countries. Our goal is to design, develop, and establish a test to determine whether students can, by touch alone, identify and discriminate between a range of different simulated lesions at different adiposity levels.

Methods: Common lesions, breast cancers, and cysts were physically simulated and hidden in a test object referred to as the "tactile landscape" (TL).

Accurate assessment of breast volume: a study comparing the volumetric gold standard (direct water displacement measurement of mastectomy specimen) with a 3D laser scanning technique.

Preoperative assessment of breast volume could contribute significantly to the planning of breast-related procedures. The availability of 3D scanning technology provides us with an innovative method for doing this. We performed this study to compare measurements by this technology with breast volume measurement by water displacement.