Scientists seek blood test for diagnosis.(breast cancer)(Brief Article)

2002 APR 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists are testing blood from more than 1000 women in an effort to find a protein that might signal breast cancer and ultimately create a blood test comparable to one men have for prostate disease.

It's too soon to know if the experiment will work. But the quest for new ways to catch early tumors or even precancerous cells - from blood testing to analyzing nipple fluid - is heating up amid controversy over mammograms. Proponents foresee a day when the x-ray routinely comes with a backup test.

"Mammography is not the end-all," said Dr. Alan Hollingsworth of Oklahoma City's Mercy Health Center, one of seven U.S. hospitals participating in Matritech Inc.'s blood-test research.

With a hint from another test that a tumor might be forming, "you could look harder. There are ways to look harder than just with mammography."

Mammograms can detect tumors when they're tiny, often meaning the difference between surgery that severs or spares the breast. Whether they also save lives is under hot debate. The U.S. government thinks so, and strongly urges women over age 40 to get one at least every other year. Regardless, an estimated third of women don't get regular mammograms.

Other scientists argue that studies backing mammograms are too flawed to determine if the procedure reduces death.

Mammograms are certainly not perfect. They can miss tumors or flag suspicious spots that turn out to be benign. More powerful imaging techniques, like ultrasound or MRI, can better pinpoint tumors but are too complex and expensive to use on everybody.