Fermiscan's science confirmed in International Journal of Cancer 2008

"Diagnosis of breast cancer by X-ray diffraction of hair" International Journal of Cancer 2008: 122: 847-856. (Gary L. Corino and Peter W. French) The paper supports the potential of Fermiscan's technology to detect the presence of breast cancer using hair samples. Click here to access the full paper

"This article presents the results of analyses of hair fibers from women with breast cancer using synchrotron-derived X-ray diffraction. These diffraction patterns contained a new feature superimposed on the normal diffraction pattern of alpha-keratin. The feature appeared as a ring with a molecular spacing determined to be 4.76 +/- 0.07 nm. This feature was not present in the diffraction patterns of hair from women without breast cancer as assessed by other routine clinical diagnostic techniques. Furthermore, different hairs from the same subject analysed on the two different synchrotron beamlines gave remarkably consistent diffraction patterns. Previous studies by other investigators have suggested that analysis of X-ray diffraction patterns of hair can reveal the presence of breast cancer in clinical and preclinical trials. This finding, however, has not been independently confirmed. The methodologies of sample handling, sample exposure and image analysis are known to be vital. We discuss some of these issues and provide a detailed description of the methodology employed for the sample handling and image analysis and new methodologies developed from this work. We conclude that X-ray diffraction of hair has the potential to provide a non-invasive test for the presence of breast cancer."

The scientists concluded that "...The results presented in this study confirm the existence of a correlation between an altered X-ray diffraction pattern of hair and the presence of breast cancer. Excerpts from International Journal of Cancer 2008: 122: 847-856. "Diagnosis of breast cancer by X-ray diffraction of hair."

In a further significant development, this study showed evidence that the technology could be used to monitor the success of cancer treatment, which would significantly expand the clinical value of the test should the finding be confirmed in larger studies.