Use of Hair to Diagnose Breast Cancer - Full Text View

Sponsored by:	Fermiscan Ltd
Information provided by:	Fermiscan Ltd
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00419679

Purpose

Study FT3.6k-2006 is a single centre (the Mater Hospital, Sydney), blinded trial of a diagnostic test for breast cancer, with outcomes compared to the gold standard of screening mammogram followed by biopsy where required. This study aims to perform X-ray diffraction analysis of coded hair samples from women with a documented breast health status, to validate the findings of James et al (Nature 398: 33-4, 1999; Int J Cancer 114: 969-72, 2005) who showed that the presence of breast cancer could be detected using synchrotron-derived x-ray diffraction of human hair (scalp or pubic). The aim is also to characterise the sensitivity and specificity of the hair test in detecting breast cancer in a screening setting, and to determine the significance of a positive hair test and a negative mammogram.

Condition	Intervention	Phase
Breast Neoplasms	Procedure: x-ray diffraction of human hair	Phase I Phase II

Genetics Home Reference related topics: breast cancer

MedlinePlus related topics: Breast Cancer Cancer Mammography X-Rays

Drug Information available for: X-Rays

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Diagnostic, Randomized, Single Blind, Uncontrolled, Single Group Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title:	A Prospective Blinded Study to Evaluate and Characterise an Assay for the Diagnosis of Breast Cancer Using Synchrotron-Derived X-Ray Diffraction of Hair Fibres.

Further study details as provided by Fermiscan Ltd:

Primary Outcome Measures:

The primary outcome is the determination of the accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) of the x-ray diffraction test for breast cancer using hair. Sensitivity is defined as the proportion of all positive Fermiscan tests that are true positives.

Secondary Outcome Measures:

The prevalence of a positive x-ray diffraction hair test and a negative mammogram, and of a negative hair test and a positive mammogram

Estimated Enrollment:	3600
Study Start Date:	December 2006

Detailed Description:

The test has the potential to improve the diagnostic (and consequently therapeutic) paradigm for breast cancer.

Women attending a radiology clinic in the Mater Hospital, Sydney, for a mammogram will be invited to participate in the study. A few hairs will be cut from their head or pubic region, put into a coded container and sent to the sponsor for analysis by synchrotron-x-ray diffraction. Although an imperfect standard for a variety of reasons, mammography is the standard screening assay, and confirmation of the pathology of the lesions found by mammography is carried out by biopsy. This will be the standard to which the hair test results will be compared. A negative mammogram will confirm a negative hair test, but a negative mammogram combined with a positive hair diffraction test will need a different approach. In the event of a positive hair test and a negative second read of the mammogram, the patient will be contacted by the referring practitioner. Patients in this category will be offered a breast MRI. A negative breast MRI under these circumstances will be classified as a true negative.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:	20 Years and older
Genders Eligible for Study:	Female
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

Adult women (aged >20) who are undergoing mammography at the Mater Hospital, Sydney, and
Who are willing and able to provide informed consent; and
Who have usable scalp and/or pubic hair

Exclusion Criteria:

Women who have dyed or permed their scalp hair within the previous 6 weeks and whose pubic hair is unavailable;
Women with a history of breast cancer ever or other cancers (excluding non-melanoma skin cancer and CIN [cervical intra-epithelial neoplasia]) within 5 years.

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00419679

Contacts

Contact: Peter French, BSc, MSc, PhD	+61292454460	pfrench@fermiscan.com.au
Contact: Gary Corino, BSc	+61292454460	gcorino@fermiscan.com.au

Locations

Australia, New South Wales
The Mater Hospital	Recruiting
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 2065
Contact: Phillip Yuile, MBBS (Hons), FRNZCR +61299292600 yuilep@optushome.com.au

Sponsors and Collaborators

Fermiscan Ltd

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Phillip Yuile, MBBS (Hons), FRNZCR

The Mater Hospital, Sydney

More Information

Publications:

James VJ. A place for fiber diffraction in the detection of breast cancer? Cancer Detect Prev. 2006;30(3):233-8. Epub 2006 Jul 28.

James V, Corino G, Robertson T, Dutton N, Halas D, Boyd A, Bentel J, Papadimitriou J. Early diagnosis of breast cancer by hair diffraction. Int J Cancer. 2005 May 10;114(6):969-72.

James V. False-positive results in studies of changes in fiber diffraction of hair from patients with breast cancer may not be false. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003 Jan 15;95(2):170-1. No abstract available. Erratum in: J Natl Cancer Inst. 2003 Feb 19;95(4):334.

Meyer P, James VJ. Experimental confirmation of a distinctive diffraction pattern in hair from women with breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2001 Jun 6;93(11):873-5. No abstract available.

James V, Kearsley J, Irving T, Amemiya Y, Cookson D. Using hair to screen for breast cancer. Nature. 1999 Mar 4;398(6722):33-4. No abstract available.

Study ID Numbers:	FT3.6k-2006
Study First Received:	January 7, 2007
Last Updated:	January 7, 2007
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00419679
Health Authority:	Australia: National Health and Medical Research Council

Keywords provided by Fermiscan Ltd:

breast cancer
hair
fibre
synchrotron
x-ray diffraction

Study placed in the following topic categories:

Skin Diseases
Breast Neoplasms
Breast Diseases

Additional relevant MeSH terms:

Neoplasms
Neoplasms by Site

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on January 14, 2009