A test developed by Australian scientists which promises to be able to pick up breast cancer from a hair sample, could be commercially available later this year.
The test which has been developed by the technology company Fermiscan is an X-ray diffraction test able to detect structural changes in hair collagen with the use of a synchrotron.
Fermiscan says in preliminary trials in 2,000 women, the test was found to have an overall predictive accuracy of 69% for breast cancer.
According to the company the accuracy of the test increased to 75% when hair samples affected by treatments such as perming and dyeing were excluded.
The trial involved women who had been referred to radiologists by their GP for a mammogram.
The test correctly diagnosed almost 1,500 women as negative for breast cancer and 20 patients correctly as positive for breast cancer and the developers say this highlights the potential value of the test in conjunction with current screening methods.
The company says the hair test is non-invasive and suitable for women for all ages and it's accuracy compares favorably to other screening methods currently available in Australia.
In the trial 13 patients found to be positive for breast cancer by a mammogram and biopsy were missed by the Fermiscan test and was possibly due to damage to hair from treatments not identified by fluorescence screening and/or biological variation.
Perming, dyeing and straightening are thought to affect the accuracy of the test but these are overcome in most cases by using new growth of the hair which usually takes about 4 weeks.
The test promises women another less painful and invasive option for the detection of early breast cancer.
Fermiscan’s test is based on technology developed and licensed from Veronica James, a physics professor at the Australian National University in Canberra.