In a new development in cancer research, a test has been developed that could potentially diagnose breast cancer's symptoms way before they appear, preventing the potential spread of the disease over a longer period of growth inside the body of the patient.

While breast cancer symptoms are in itself a good alert to go to the doctor for a check-up, the fact of the matter is that many deaths could be avoided if it was possible to see tumors before they had the chance to spread further - and now, it seems that scientists are a step closer to that goal.

According to Science Daily, the new discovery regarding breast cancer symptoms and its ultimate diagnoses is part of an investigation by Britain's prestigious University of Oxford. The paper is entitled "Zinc isotopic compositions of breast cancer tissue," was published in the latest issue of journal Metallomics and studies the possibility of developing a zinc blood test as a way as a form of early breast cancer diagnosis.

For study, researchers used metal-tracing isotopes techniques (useful for the study of climate change as well as the formation of planets) and applied this knowledge on breast cancer symptoms, finding that the isotopic composition of zinc (which can be detected on breast tissue) could potentially help finding an indicator of breast cancer in its early stages.

Interesting enough, The Daily Mail reports that the test created to prevent later breast-cancer symptoms would actually be much more effective than mammograms or X-Rays, showing signs of the cancer much earlier than the current tests.

The test would be a quick and inexpensive way to detect breast cancer in the future, due to the fact that there would be no need for expensive equipment that throw results after weeks.

According to Medical News Today, the possibility of a blood test that could detect breast cancer on an earlier stage could potentially save thousands of lives.