New Test Detects Breast Cancer in Women by Studying Hair Structure

Hair from women with breast cancer has a different structure than hair from healthy women, and special X-ray techniques can detect the difference, opening the door to a new screening procedure that would reduce reliance on painful mammograms, Australian researchers report in today’s issue of the journal Nature. Women with the BRCA1 gene that predisposes them toward breast and ovarian cancer also display the unusual hair pattern, according to researchers from the University of New South Wales.

The scientists used a technique called synchrotron X-ray scattering to detect differences in the hair, but say they will have to find a cheaper technique if the method is to get widespread use. Women diagnosed in the earliest stages of the disease have a 95% five-year survival rate, compared to just 18% for those who start treatment in an advanced stage of the cancer.

*

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II