Hair Test For Breast Cancer

A NEW detection test for breast cancer using patients' hair could help save the lives of thousands of young women. Mammograms are commonly used for women aged 50-plus to detect changes to the breast that signal possible tumors.

Women under 40 have much denser breast tissue than older women, so it is more difficult for mammograms to pick up the changes in younger breasts that indicate cancer. But mammograms could be a thing of the past with the development of a cancer-detecting hair test by Australian company Fermiscan Holdings Ltd.

The test bombards strands of hair with X-rays from a synchrotron particle accelerator. In hair from healthy people, the pattern produced by the X-rays is a series of arcs, while in people with breast cancer a distinctive ring is superimposed on top of the arcs.

Hair test cuts breast cancer errors - health - 07 February 2008 - New Scientist