SAN DIEGO -- A new screening test can help detect abnormal cells in the breast years before they will ever show up on a mammogram, 10News reported.

It's called the HALO Breast Pap Test and one day it could be part of a woman's annual exam.

Using a breast pump-like device, the system collects Nipple Aspirate Fluid or NAF. If there are any precancerous cells in that fluid they will show up long before a mammogram can detect trouble.

"We can find abnormal cells sometimes seven to eight years before a mammogram will pick up a lump," OB-GYN Dr. Steven Drosman said.

Jacque Morell has a family history of breast cancer and said she was apprehensive about mammograms.

"My mother had breast cancer and it was not caught in a mammogram," Morell said.

Morell took the HALO Breast Pap Test and said it was quick and painless.

"It was not uncomfortable at all. I was really surprised," Morell said.

The hope is that the five-minute test will do what the Pap did for cervical cancer -- cutting deaths by more than 70 percent.

Currently, Drosman is the only physician in San Diego who is performing the test.

For more information about the HALO Breast Pap Test, click here. To contact Drosman, call (619) 260-0066.