New Australian Technology: Detecting Breast Cancer With Hair

SAN DIEGO -- The Australian company Fermiscan, who is using a US synchrotron in the development of a new breast cancer screening test through the analysis of an individual's hair, has demonstrated an accuracy rate of 69% in detecting breast cancer. A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association(1) (US study), showed that breast screening using either mammography or ultrasound achieved no greater than a 50% sensitivity at detecting breast cancer. A sensitivity of 78% was achieved when techniques were combined. Fermiscan recently completed a similarly sized clinical trial(2) designed to compare results from current screening methods of mammography, ultrasound (and any subsequent biopsy and pat...