Thursday, 2 May, 2002, 16:52 GMT 17:52 UK Cancer hair test theory cut short
Hair testing won't detect cancer, say experts
Hopes that doctors might be able to detect breast cancer by simply scanning a single hair have been dashed by further research. At present, breast cancer is detected by x-rays which can hopefully spot the difference between healthy tissue and denser tumours.
Research in 1999, published in the journal Nature, suggested that another type of x-ray scanning could reveal subtle molecular changes in hair strands.
It looks at though no correlation exists at all, which is disappointing
Dr Mark Sutton, McGill University This small angle x-ray scattering produces a distinctive pattern depending on the molecular structures encountered.
It claimed that breast cancer patients experienced these changes in their hair - and they could be detected.
However, since the original Australian research projects, no teams have managed to reproduce this result.
No link
The latest attempt, published in the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology, looked at 56 patients, some of whom had breast cancer, and some who appeared to be healthy.
Their results showed no correlation between changes in the test results and the presence of breast cancer.
Even people with the BRCA gene - which makes some people more prone to developing breast cancer - showed no differences in the pattern generated by the scattered x-rays.
Dr Mark Sutton, from McGill University in Canada, who carried out the experiments, said: "Looking at the original results, we thought that their link between hair structure and breast cancer might be some kind of genetic factor, as there are numerous genetic causes of abnormal hair structure.
"Instead, it looks at though no correlation exists at all, which is disappointing."
Expensive
He said the link, if established, could have been "very important" to medical science.
Dr Rob Lewis, from the Daresbury Laboratory in Cheshire, where other research into the potential link has been carried out, told BBC News Online that several other studies had been carried out, with no positive result.
He said: "One French study actually scanned different sections of single hairs - they found that the pattern taken to indicate cancer was present in some places, and disappeared in others.
"One of the problems is that many people with cancer will undergo chemotherapy or radiotherapy - and this could have a far more dramatic effect on the molecular structure of their hair."
Another potential problem with the method was the likely expense of introducing it.
The scanner required to conduct such testing are so expensive, that many countries do not even have a single one.
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