Breast cancer remains the most common form of cancer among women but screening with mammography involves exposure to ionising radiation and suffers from a high rate of false positives that then require a definitive assay. In the December issue of the journal Biopolymers, researchers in India describe how Raman spectroscopy might be used to discriminate between normal, benign, and malignant breast tissue and so provide a simple and relatively non-invasive complement to a suspicious mammogram.
Murali Krishna of the Center for Laser Spectroscopy at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, in Karnataka and a visiting scientist at the University of Reims, France, and colleagues at Department of Surgical Oncology, Shirdi Sai Baba Cancer Hospital and Research Center and the Department of General Surgery at Kasturba Medical College, both part of Manipal, explain that, as with most cancers, survival rates depend on the stage at which diagnosis is made. More reliable screening and diagnosis methodology could thus improve survival rates.
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