The test could help eliminate the need for invasive diagnosis procedures

Jun 19, 2014 20:57 GMT  ·  By

A team of Israeli, American, and British scientists claim to have developed a so-called breathalyzer test that they say can help diagnose lung cancer without having to subject a patient to invasive procedures.

In a press release on the official website for the Tel Aviv University, the researchers detail that the test in question relies on the fact that, as confirmed by previous investigations, cancer tumors that form in the lungs have a unique signature.

Simply put, they let out a very specific set of volatile organic compounds that evaporate into the air and are discernible in an individual's breath. It is these volatile organic compounds that the test picks up on and analyzes to deliver a diagnosis.

“Cancer cells not only have a different and unique smell or signature, you can even discriminate between subtypes and advancement of the disease. The bigger the tumor, the more robust the signature,” explains Dr. Nir Peled.

The breathalyzer test is not yet a valid diagnosis method. However, the scientists who developed it say that they have until now tested it on 358 volunteers, who either had cancer or were at risk to develop this condition, and obtained promising results.

More precisely, the test is said to have had an efficiency rate of 85% when used to sort healthy people from individuals suffering from early-stage lung cancer. Besides, it distinguished between healthy individuals and advanced cancer sufferers 82% of the time.

Interestingly enough, the Israeli, American, and British scientists behind this research project say the test also proved capable of distinguishing between cases of early and advanced lung cancer. Thus, its efficiency when made to carry out this task was one of 79%.

“Our NaNose was able to detect lung cancer with 90 percent accuracy even when the lung nodule was tiny and hard to sample. It was even able to discriminate between subtypes of cancer, which was unexpected,” Dr. Nir Peled sums up the outcome of his and his colleagues' experiments.

For the time being, lung cancer is a leading cause of death in the United States. This is not because it is much more difficult to treat than other forms of this medical condition, but because it is rarely diagnosed while still in its incipient form.

It is believed that, with the help of this breathalyzer test, doctors will have an easier time identifying patients suffering from lung cancer and will therefore be able to provide them with proper treatment before the disease progresses up to the point of no return.

As Dr. Nir Peled puts it, “The device could prove valuable in helping determine patients who need more intensive screening for lung cancer. We're hoping to have a device that would be able to give you a go/no-go result – something is wrong, go get an X-ray.”