Medulla Loss of Scalp Hair in Breast Cancer Patients Determined by Near-Infrared Microscopy

The study developed inexpensive near-infrared microscopy (NIRM) as a technique to detect medulla loss in scalp hair, potentially serving as a screening tool for breast cancer. NIRM was evaluated against other methods and showed that complete medulla loss (CML) was significantly higher in breast cancer patients (60.9 ± 10.2%) compared to healthy individuals (less than 3.7 ± 7.5%) and those with benign diseases (30.6 ± 5.9%). This suggests that medulla loss could be a biomarker for breast cancer diagnosis. The study proposed that NIRM could be integrated into mobile platforms for point-of-care breast cancer screening.