1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Breast Cancer
photo of Pam Stephan
Breast Cancer Blog

By Pam Stephan, About.com Guide to Breast Cancer

Haircut May Screen for Breast Cancer

Saturday March 3, 2007
Researchers in Australia are trying out a new, noninvasive way to screen women for breast cancer. No biopsy or mammogram would be needed, just a sample of your hair. Your hair would be passed through a high-powered X-ray beam in a synchrotron, and a radiologist would be able to analyse the image for tiny changes in its structure that indicate the presence of breast cancer. "If you pass that beam through the hair and analyse the X-ray absorption of that beam, you get a finding specific to breast cancer," reported radiologist Dr Ron Shnier. Fermiscan is the company that is currently testing the synchrotron method in Chicago, with 2000 patients. Dr Veronica James is the inventor of the method. Hair scans may someday be used for breast, colon, and liver cancers, as well as Alzheimer's Disease.

Comments

No comments yet. Leave a Comment

Leave a Comment

Line and paragraph breaks are automatic. Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title="">, <b>, <i>, <strike>

Explore Breast Cancer
About.com Special Features

Learn how you can reduce your your numbers with these nutrition and exercise tips. More >

Keep yourself, and your family, happy and healthy this fall with these tips. More >

  1. Home
  2. Health
  3. Breast Cancer

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.