Diagnosis of breast cancer ... thanks to hair

According to a report by Australian researchers, the hair of women with breast cancer is different from normal people.

Researchers recently reported in the International Journal of Cancer : when putting hair in front of X-rays, the process of radiation gets an alpha-keratin horn (the substance that makes up hair). make noise follow a separate pattern. Gary L.Cino and Peter W. French, two doctors from Fermiscan Pharmaceutical Company, Sydney used the technique to observe hair samples from 13 women diagnosed with breast cancer and 20 other healthy people. .

The team of investigators said they had to get their hair as close to the scalp as possible to get the latest hair growth. These researchers have also succeeded in producing basic alpha-keratin X-ray diffraction patterns on each strand of hair.

Observers found that most of the hair of breast cancer patients is the same. There is only one difference that is on the hair of the patient who is using chemotherapy. That is the appearance with the diminishing intensity of a ring on the hair.

They observed a 6-month-old hair fragment that fell out in patients with breast cancer being treated with chemotherapy. X-ray diffraction at three points on the hair shows the clear mark of the ring at the farthest point from the hairline, the fuzzy middle ring and the loss of the ring close to the hairline.

Corino and French said: 'The phenomenon of such a fading ring seems to be consistent with the patient's treatment process and may indicate that the treatment eliminated this cancer at each stage. how.'

Explaining the pattern of the ring, the two doctors also hypothesized that this could be 'the penetration of external lipids into the fiber due to the presence of a tumor, certain tumors.' And through the ring, we can also know how the disease has affected the hair follicles. However, scientists still think that they need to test more to get the highest accuracy for this new breast cancer diagnosis method.