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How Camembert cheese led to the saving of a million lives

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Did you know that the soft and creamy Camembert cheese, famous for its origins in Normandy, France, played a pivotal role in the evolution of life-saving medical technology?
The journey began in the late 1990s when French physicist Dr. Mathias Fink set out to assess the quality of Camembert cheese using shear waves and ultrasound technology.
Little did he anticipate that this endeavor would lead to a groundbreaking breakthrough in the realm of medical science.
What is Camembert Cheese?

Camembert, the soft-ripened bloomy cheese originating from Normandy in northern France, has a popular origin story dating back to the French Revolution.

Marie Harel, a farm woman from the village of Camembert, is credited with creating the cheese in 1791 after sheltering a fleeing priest from Brie, the home of another iconic French cheese. The lore goes that she received the recipe in return and adapted it to her region’s traditions, giving birth to Camembert.


The cheese testing technique

As per an article mentioned in caferoentgen.com, in the late 1990s, Dr. Mathias Fink embarked on an ambitious mission: to revolutionize the assessment of Camembert cheese quality by combining shear waves with ultrasound technology. Collaborating with his students, Dr. Fink sought to develop a state-of-the-art digital ultra-fast ultrasound imaging system with the capability to generate shear waves at supersonic frequencies. This technological innovation was specifically designed to offer a real-time evaluation of Camembert cheese, focusing on crucial aspects such as elasticity and maturity.

The essence of this development lay in the marriage of shear waves—a type of low-frequency wave with a pushing force—with advanced ultrasound technology. The resultant digital ultra-fast ultrasound imaging system represented a cutting-edge tool that could not only capture detailed images but also gauge the intrinsic qualities of Camembert cheese during its production and maturation process.

The twist in the tale

However, the story takes a fascinating turn when Dr. Fink, alongside his student Mickael Tanter, recognizes the potential of this technology in the realm of medical diagnosis. They patented a technique called ‘shear wave elastography,’ which utilized shear waves to identify subtle differences in the elasticity of human tissues. This groundbreaking advancement offered a non-invasive means to identify diseased tissues within the body in real time.
In 2005, Fink and Tanter, along with six co-founders, established the medical imaging start-up SuperSonic Imagine. They developed machines based on their patented technology and deployed them in breast cancer treatment centers for testing. The results were nothing short of astonishing – these machines significantly reduced the number of unnecessary breast cancer biopsies. The technology, initially designed for cheese testing, proved to be a transformative force in medical imaging.

Shear wave elastography provided doctors with a precise and efficient tool to identify diseased tissues, offering a less invasive alternative to traditional diagnostic procedures. The real-time color-coded maps generated by this technique allowed for accurate and swift decision-making in medical diagnoses.

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