Scientists have found a new and easier way to detect early-stage lung cancer by using a breath test. Detecting cancer early on is crucial because treatment for the condition is likely to succeed when it's done at the early stages than when the illness has gone terminal.
A new research suggests that certain compounds found in a person's breath can give clues as to whether a person has a lung cancer or not. Findings of the study, conducted by a group of researchers from the University of Louisville in Kentucky, showed that compounds in the breath that are released by lung cancer cells can be detected by high-tech sensors.
The researchers, headed by Michael Bousamra, an associate professor at the department of surgery in the University of Louisville, conducted a breath test in people with suspicious lung tumors already detected by CT scan using a custom-made silicon microprocessor and mass spectrometer they have developed. The device can detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) called carbonyls, which serve as a red flag for lung cancer. Higher levels of three of the four cancer-specific carbonyl compounds predict lung cancer, while normal levels of the substances indicate a benign tumor.
The breath test was 95 percent accurate in predicting malignant tumors and 80 percent accurate in detecting benign pulmonary module or mass. The researchers also observed that the carbonyl levels went back to normal after the patients underwent surgery to remove the tumor.
The American Lung Association says that lung cancer kills more people than colon, prostate and breast cancer combined and one reason is, it is usually identified at a later stage when it already begun to metastasize.
"Instead of sending patients for invasive biopsy procedures when a suspicious lung mass is identified, our study suggests that exhaled breath could identify which patients" may need immediate surgery, Bousamra said. The study was presented to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons on its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida Jan. 28.
The researchers said that their data are preliminary and still need to be published in a peer-reviewed journal.
