13
May
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A group of U.S. scientists have developed a clinical trial with colors showing chemical changes in the breath of people suffering from lung cancer.
breath changes when it develops lung cancer.
Even the dogs, animals with a highly developed sense of smell, are able to distinguish the breath of patients with lung cancer and healthy people.
Volatile Organic Compounds
This is because cancer cells give off chemicals called volatile organic compounds (VOC, for its acronym in English), which are then expelled by exhalation.
In the past, scientists have used highly sensitive machines such as gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy to "read" accurately compounds.
However, these machines are very expensive and require specially trained personnel to interpret the findings.
When compared with those machines, the color sensor is cheap and easy to read, say scientists.
Many lung cancer cases are detected through an x-ray.
The spots on the sensor changes color depending on the chemicals with which they come into contact.
Researchers used the color sensor to examine the breath of 122 people with different types of lung disease, including 49 with cancer and 21 healthy people.
The method was able to accurately predict the presence of cancer by almost 3 to 4 people with lung cancer, including tumors early.
The method is crucial because lung cancer tends to be silent in its early stages, making it difficult to detect in a stage where it can be treated effectively, said the team of researchers led by Peter Mazzone.
"This line of research could lead to a diagnostic test for lung cancer, nothing expensive or invasive," the scientists said.
The medical director of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, Jesme Fox, said: "There is an urgent need for an early diagnosis."
"Currently we rely on people coming to the clinic with symptoms or lung X-rays taken only by chance."
Fox said that the test will require more research before it is available at the clinical level.
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