Breath Test Detects Lung Cancer

(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Detecting lung cancer could someday be as simple as exhaling.

A new report from The Cleveland Clinic reveals a breath test can find the disease with "moderate accuracy," even in its early stages. Researchers report this could revolutionize the way cancer is detected and potentially save lives.

Many times there are no symptoms in the early stages of lung cancer, so it is often only diagnosed with the disease is advanced.

During the test, a chemical color sensor detects tiny changes in the unique chemical signature of the breath of lung cancer patients. Metabolic changes in cancer cells cause changes in the way certain chemicals in the air are processed in the lungs. This means the air being exhaled by a person with lung cancer will be different from the air being exhaled by someone without lung cancer.

Researchers used the sensor to test the breath of 122 people with different respiratory diseases, including 49 patients with various stages of small cell lung cancer. They also tested the breath of 21 healthy people. The test accurately predicted cancer in almost three out of four of those with lung cancer, according to study authors.

Other approaches to breath testing have been used, including gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. But these approaches are complicated and costly, according to study authors. They conclude, "Ultimately, this line of investigation could lead to an inexpensive, non-invasive screening or diagnostic test for lung cancer."

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SOURCE: Thorax, 2007, doi: 10.1136/thx.2006.072892